The Extraordinary Summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) called for the end of vaccine nationalism and for equal access to vaccines by all countries, while it committed to enhancing SADC regional and national capacities in research and in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals.

The Summit was held in Maputo, in Mozambique, on Wednesday, as a follow-up of the Extraordinary SADC Double Troika Summit that took place on May 27.

The Summit also committed to enhance the promotion of traditional and alternative medicines, and the development of vaccines.

The Summit urged SADC Member States and the International Community to support the proposal for a temporary waiver of certain provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to allow more countries to produce Covid-19 vaccines, for a more efficient response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

It also called on the World Trade Organization to finalise negotiations on the waiver of certain provisions of the Agreement on TRIPS, and to expedite its operationalisation.

Meanwhile, President Cyril Ramaphosa was commended by the Summit for championing the proposal to waive certain provisions of the Agreement on TRIPS, so as to enable more countries to produce Covid-19 vaccines.

The Summit also urged countries that are limiting SADC residents to travel to their countries based on origin and type of vaccine they received to reconsider their positions.

TERRORISM & FOOD SECURITY

The Summit has approved the mandate for the SADC Standby Force Mission to the Republic of Mozambique, to be deployed to combat terrorism and extremism in Cabo Delgado. 

Member States were urged, in collaboration with humanitarian agencies, to continue providing humanitarian support to the Cabo Delgado population affected by the terrorist attacks, including the internally displaced persons.

The Summit also urged member States to strengthen and expand coverage of social protection and safety net programmes to cater for increasing numbers of the food insecure, and to promote value addition through agroprocessing.

Member States were urged to domesticate the Regional Food and Nutrition Security Strategy into national food and nutrition security strategies to address growing rates of malnutrition.