Remarks by UN Resident Coordinator at Partners Meeting on COVID-19

Acknowledgements:

Honourable Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng , along with all your colleagues of the Ministry of Health

Your Excellencies, the Ambassadors,

Representatives of Partner Agencies and the Private Sector,

All Distinguished participants,

Through me, the United Nations family in Uganda, conveys appreciation to the Government of Uganda and the Ministry of Health in particular for taking decisive actions to counter the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda. These efforts have been key to navigating the challenges of this pandemic – and mitigating the effect on Uganda’s health, economy and society. Uganda continues to receive important vaccination support globally, and has led the way as one of the first African countries to roll out COVID vaccinations to its population. All of these strategic developments, including the ongoing national vaccination campaign, have been key to mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on the country.

I also commend the efforts, contributions and support of Uganda’s development partners – those directly supporting implementation, bilateral and multilateral partners and other key stakeholders.  We recognize the crucial role you continue to play in sustaining Uganda’s COVID-19 response, including continuity of critical global health programs, as we build a nationally coordinated response to the daunting challenges posed by the pandemic.

The UN especially appreciates the engagement of His Excellency, the President of Uganda in regularly updating the nation on the COVID-19 situation in Uganda. We  appreciate the President’s mobilization of national stakeholders to act,  as well as his public health promotion efforts and awareness campaigns on compliance with SOPs and the benefits of vaccinations. Uganda successfully contained the first and second waves of COVID-19 infection and is now actively engaged to prevent the third wave.

Ladies and gentlemen,

As we approach the second anniversary of the pandemic, the challenge now is to manage the variants we have and minimize new ones. And of course with the billions we still have unvaccinated globally, the risk of new – and potentially more virulent variants-  remains and our collective health security remains at risk. This point has been made by many, including the UN Secretary general.

And all of us in this room are of similar mind, all doing our best to ensure vaccines reach everyone – starting with those prioritized in the plans - as soon as in possible.

This is the point of our meeting today, to discuss the Ministry’s plans to accelerate COVID-19 vaccinations across Uganda.

Under the leadership of the Honorable Minister, Uganda has been successful in purchasing vaccines using its own financial resources. Several partners in the meeting have shared vaccine doses with Uganda both bilaterally and through the COVAX facility. Through the combined efforts by Government and her partners, as of the first week of November, Uganda had received more than 8.9 million doses of  COVID vaccines (all the different vaccines available). There are millions more coming in this week.

As we anticipate the arrival of even more vaccines, our current more pressing challenge is really around delivery. Scaling up operational support for the administration of vaccines will be essential to fully utilize the doses received in country,… and in so doing hopefully preventing the emergence of a deadly third wave.

Today’s meeting is really meant to provide a forum for the Ministry of Health and development partners to discuss how we can support the Government of Uganda’s vaccine agenda in three ways:

1. First, to increase the uptake of COVID vaccines nationwide with equity between the different regions and communities;
2. Second, to achieve full vaccine coverage among the five priority groups that were initially identified by the Government, with a special focus on the elderly and people with co-morbidities;
3. And third, to ensure that no vaccines are wasted and or expire before being used.

We look forward to hearing your views on how we all —Ministry officials and development partners—can together support the Government in these three areas. I hope we will all share constructive and candid proposals and suggestions on the advocacy needed, mechanisms to be utilized and funding – both what is available and of course gaps. Managing delivery of millions of vaccines with a short time frame is a challenge.

But I also know that Uganda is up to the challenge. My understanding is that back in 2019, the Ministry of health – with support from her partners – was able to successfully inoculate 19.6 million people against measles  in 5 days, using an injectable vaccine. So in the very recent past, Uganda has demonstrated that it can vaccinate millions in a day. I hope we can replicate that success. And that by the end of our meeting we are clear how we move forward through collective partnerships as well as individual actions to ensure the available vaccines reach the arms of Ugandans – the right Ugandans, those prioritized by the plan, with no wastage.

And with those few words, Minister – and all partners -  please rest assured that as a UN family we remain committed to supporting this joint effort.

Thank you.