President Cyril Ramaphosa says in order to fight COVID-19, there is a need for all the countries to pool their resources together to overcome the pandemic.
“To overcome the pandemic, we must work together to end hunger, promote education and the resumption of learning and to protect our planet,” President Ramaphosa said.
The President made these remarks during the virtual Global Citizen’s “Recover Better Together” post COVID-19 campaign launch on Tuesday.
South Africa he said, was honoured to lend support to Global Citizen and the campaign.
For the past 10 years, Global Citizen has been a leading voice for the involvement of governments, world leaders, philanthropists, activists, artists and the citizens of the world in ending extreme poverty.
The initiative is organised by Global Citizen, in partnership with the European Commission and the World Health Organisation (WHO). The campaign seeks to create momentum for global COVID-19 pandemic recovery and a return to the implementation of global goals.
President Ramaphosa commended Global Citizen for acting swiftly when the Coronavirus pandemic struck last year by hosting the “One World: Together At Home” benefit concert in support of the healthcare workers on the frontline.
“The substantial pledges made for Coronavirus relief at this event enabled NGOs around the world to help those most vulnerable in many countries,” he said.
The President further added that the “Recover Better Together” campaign recognises that overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic is essential to making progress in tackling poverty.
“To achieve this, we must deepen cooperation to ensure equitable access to vaccines. No person, no country and no region must be left behind. To fight the pandemic, we need to pool resources, capabilities, knowledge and intellectual property.
“That is why we continue to call on world leaders to support the COVAX facility to ensure rapid and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries.”
Another important step is to enable the transfer of medical technology for the duration of the pandemic.
“This will allow us to increase the production of COVID-19 vaccines and other medical products, lower prices and improve distribution to reach all corners of the world. Alongside these efforts to overcome the pandemic, we must work together to end hunger, promote education and the resumption of learning, and protect the planet.”
The President expressed confidence that the world will recover from the pandemic sating “it will recover better, and it will recover together.” –SAnews.gov.za
