LA LAGUNA (TENERIFE), Dec. 1 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The head of the Epidemiology section of the Canarian Health Service (SCS), Amós García, and the director of the Cape Verde disease prevention service, Carlos Faria Brito, have agreed this Wednesday in demanding “a global solution” to prevent progress of the coronavirus pandemic.
Both specialists took part in the round table ‘Lessons from the Covid 19 pandemic’ of ‘CampusÁfrica’, a debate that served to address some of the key issues arising from the development of the pandemic, as well as the health policies put in place to face its expansion.
The session began with a brief introduction by Faria on the current situation of the virus in the Economic Community of African States (ECOWAS) with data as of November 25, 2021.
“The figures are very worrying in Nigeria, where there are already 213,883 confirmed cases and in Ghana there are more than 130,000,” he said, a circumstance that highlights the need to implement coordinated measures by the institutions in order to convey messages of care and prevention to citizens.
“The use of the mask, interpersonal distance and hand washing are still the simplest measures to apply and it is necessary to get this message through,” he commented.
Likewise, the director of the Cape Verde disease prevention service pointed out, as one of the great challenges facing developing countries, the ability to activate effective vaccination plans.
“There are countries that have vaccines and yet have only been able to apply 30% of the total stockpile and this is due to the lack of infrastructure and sanitary conditions,” he added.
For his part, Amós García took advantage of his intervention to reflect on the importance of the role of science in a historical and critical moment such as the one we are currently experiencing.
“The world of science is to navigate in uncertainty and from here we have to look for evidence through research,” he said.
Along the same lines, García conveyed to the ‘CampusÁfrica’ scholarship recipients the need for the countries to be involved with regard to health policy.
“YOU CANNOT CUT IN HEALTH”
“You cannot cut health care, the pandemic has shown that it is necessary to have means, resources and trained personnel to be able to respond to situations of this type,” he said.
Both experts agreed on the need to get vaccines equitably to other countries through the implementation of international programs and agreements.
“The way out of this situation requires a global awareness, this is everyone’s problem and requires a solution for everyone and not for a few lucky ones. Right now 80% of the vaccines produced are in the power of a single country,” they affirmed .
In addition, García added that “if this global response is not given, these locations will act as reservoirs for new strains and the problem will continue.”
This Thursday ‘CampusÁfrica’ closes its fourth edition with the closing ceremony that will take place in the Paraninfo of the University of La Laguna at 11 a.m. and will feature the intervention of Margarita del Val, virologist and researcher of the Higher Council of Scientific Research (CSIC).
