Winnie Byanyima to Moderate Africa CDC Conference on Expanding Africa"â„cs Vaccine Manufacturing

Winnie Byanyima, the Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) is today, April 13, moderating the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) virtual conference on expanding Africacâ¬â„cs vaccine manufacturing.

Byanyima, the only high profile Ugandan taking part in the conference, will moderate session VIII, whose theme is câ¬Å“Partnership with foundations for manufacturing of vaccinesc⬝

The two-day conference began on Monday, April 12, and is being held under the theme câ¬Å“Africacâ¬â„cs Vaccine Manufacturing for Health Securityc⬝.

Some of the high-profile participants in the conference include Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi, Rwanda President Paul Kagame, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, and Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

The conference aims at addressing Africacâ¬â„cs low manufacturing capacity which exposes Africans to supply chain risks such as the one experienced with the current COVID-19 vaccine challenges.

According to Africa CDC, expanding African manufacturing will clearly have a significant public health impact and economic benefit to the continent.

Byanyima, an aeronautical engineer by profession, is also the former Executive-Director of OXFAM and has previously served as the director of the Gender Team in the Bureau for Development Policy at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 

Picture credit: UNAIDS