Morocco has been a pioneer in the launch of an ambitious initiative aimed at achieving health sovereignty in Africa and guaranteeing equitable access to vaccines for all of its population, said Monday in Geneva, the Minister of Health and of Social Protection, Khalid Ait Taleb.
In his address to the 76th session of the World Health Assembly, which is being held in Geneva until May 30, Ait Taleb noted that health challenges require the consolidation of efforts and collaboration in order to strengthen health security, explaining that this is what motivated Morocco to set up a production plant for vaccines against Covid-19 as well as twenty other vaccines, to meet the continent’s short and long-term needs and to ensuring the availability of vaccines worldwide.
This ambitious project will make Morocco a leading biotechnology hub at the continental and global level by integrating pharmaceutical research, clinical development, as well as the manufacture and marketing of essential bio-pharmaceutical products, thus strengthening its capacities to face in a effective in various health emergencies, he said.
Ensuring health care for all requires the integration of prevention systems into all strategies and programs of all stakeholders, in a holistic and integrated approach, Ait Taleb continued.
Thus, he recalled that the Kingdom organized the first African Dialogue for the reduction of health risks, which concluded with the Declaration of Marrakech 2022, underlining the need to strengthen health systems through sustainable health policies. and to strengthen partnerships and solidarity, with the aim of achieving health security and making Africa an integrated continent with a unified collective vision.
Moreover, this commitment of Morocco in the field of health continues by hosting from June 13 to 15 the third session of the global consultations on the health of migrants and refugees, the minister said.
This session of the World Health Assembly provides an opportunity to reaffirm the international commitment to equality and the right to health for all, he said, assuring that the achievement of this goal is dependent on the generalization of health coverage and the construction of solid health systems capable of providing local and quality services to the entire population.
In this sense, he reviewed the efforts made by Morocco, under the enlightened leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, to generalize health coverage and strengthen the health system, in particular by improving the supply of care, development and motivation of human resources to enable them to fully play their roles.