People's Health Movement South Africa

This seminar was a platform to share the actions of Civil Society in response to an attempt by Solidarity and Afriforum to promote private procurement and distribution of vaccines for COVID-19 in SA.

Solidarity and Afriforum lodged court papers to compel government to allow the private sector, NGOs and provinces to procure and distribute vaccines independent of government. The Health Justice initiative applied to be an Amicus Curiae (friend of the court) and would have brought evidence as to why such as case, were it to be successful, would have disastrous effects for an equitable and effective roll out of vaccines.

The case was withdrawn before it was heard.

However, because we believe the issues are of critical importance, PHM and HJI decided to co-host this webinar to bring these issues to the attention of the wider public.

The speakers included:
Fatima Hassan - Director of the HJI
Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng - UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health
Prof. Leslie London - Professor of Public Health Medicine at UCT and Steering Committee member for the PHM-SA

This seminar was a platform to share the actions of Civil Society in response to an attempt by Solidarity and Afriforum to promote private procurement and distribution of vaccines for COVID-19 in SA.

Solidarity and Afriforum lodged court papers to compel government to allow the private sector, NGOs and provinces to procure and distribute vaccines independent of government. The Health Justice initiative applied to be an Amicus Curiae (friend of the court) and would have brought evidence as to why such as case, were it to be successful, would have disastrous effects for an equitable and effective roll out of vaccines.

The case was withdrawn before it was heard.

However, because we believe the issues are of critical importance, PHM and HJI decided to co-host this webinar to bring these issues to the attention of the wider public.

The speakers included:
Fatima Hassan - Director of the HJI
Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng - UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health
Prof. Leslie London - Professor of Public Health Medicine at UCT and Steering Committee member for the PHM-SA Facebook · Twitter · Donate · Website

This webinar was organised and hosted by the International Labour, Research and Information Group (ILRIG) on 25th February 2021.

Moderated by Dr. Dale McKinley from ILRIG, the three panelists were:
Fatima Hassan - Health Justice Initiative
Dr. Lydia Cairncross - People’s Health Movement
Dr. Benjamin Kagina - Vaccines for Africa Initiative

The panelists covered a lot of ground, focusing among other things on:
the global picture of vaccine distribution, financing and inequalities;
the South African specific situation with vaccine procurement and roll out plans; and
the key sources of and responses to, vaccine scepticism and opposition.

There was a lively and extensive set of questions and comments from webinar participants. Overall, this impressive and timely webinar provided a wealth of pertinent information and grounded, activist perspectives as part of the South African and international struggle for equitable, free and accessible Covid-19 vaccines. ILRIG · Connect with Fatima on LinkedIn · Connect with Benjamin on LinkedIn · Connect with Lydia on LinkedIn

This webinar was organised and hosted by the International Labour, Research and Information Group (ILRIG) on 25th February 2021.

Moderated by Dr. Dale McKinley from ILRIG, the three panelists were:
Fatima Hassan - Health Justice Initiative
Dr. Lydia Cairncross - People’s Health Movement
Dr. Benjamin Kagina - Vaccines for Africa Initiative

The panelists covered a lot of ground, focusing among other things on:
the global picture of vaccine distribution, financing and inequalities;
the South African specific situation with vaccine procurement and roll out plans; and
the key sources of and responses to, vaccine scepticism and opposition.

There was a lively and extensive set of questions and comments from webinar participants. Overall, this impressive and timely webinar provided a wealth of pertinent information and grounded, activist perspectives as part of the South African and international struggle for equitable, free and accessible Covid-19 vaccines. ILRIG · Connect with Fatima on LinkedIn · Connect with Benjamin on LinkedIn · Connect with Lydia on LinkedIn · Facebook · Twitter · Donate · Website

Speakers
Dr. James van Duuren | PHMSA)
Prof. Leslie London | PHMSA
Fatima Hassan | Health Justice International Covid-19 Training Powerpoint Slides · Equitable Access - Vaccines and Patents · Facebook · Twitter · Donate · Website · PHM-SA 2021 01 Equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines and patents.pdf — PDF (1.5 MB)

Speakers
Dr. James van Duuren | PHMSA)
Prof. Leslie London | PHMSA
Fatima Hassan | Health Justice International Covid-19 Training Powerpoint Slides · Equitable Access - Vaccines and Patents · PHM-SA 2021 01 Equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines and patents.pdf — PDF (1.5 MB)

What is a vaccine?
What is a Covid-19 vaccine?
How to debunk vaccine myths?
What is a patent?
What is the role of community health workers?
What can we learn from the HIV access to medicines campaign?

All these, and more, are answered in plain normal language in this podcast.

Speakers
> Prof. Leslie London | UCT and People’s Health Movement
> Dr. James Van Duuren | People’s Health Movement Facebook · Twitter · Donate · Website

What is a vaccine?
What is a Covid-19 vaccine?
How to debunk vaccine myths?
What is a patent?
What is the role of community health workers?
What can we learn from the HIV access to medicines campaign?

All these, and more, are answered in plain normal language in this podcast.

Speakers
> Prof. Leslie London | UCT and People’s Health Movement
> Dr. James Van Duuren | People’s Health Movement

This episode presents the situational analysis conducted in October 2020 to gain insight into the current situation with respect to access to quality health technologies (PPE, diagnostic tests, ventilators) for COVID-19 in South Africa, as well as potential barriers and enablers to access to health technologies currently under development (vaccines, treatments).

The situational analysis further sought to understand how regulatory frameworks, health financing, local manufacturing capacity and domestic research activities impact/may impact health technology access in the country.

Facilitator
> Prof Leslie London - People’s Health Movement South Africa

Speakes
> Catherine Tomlinson: Freelance public health consultant and health journalist
> Candice Sehoma - Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
> Umunyana Rugege - Section27

This episode presents the situational analysis conducted in October 2020 to gain insight into the current situation with respect to access to quality health technologies (PPE, diagnostic tests, ventilators) for COVID-19 in South Africa, as well as potential barriers and enablers to access to health technologies currently under development (vaccines, treatments).

The situational analysis further sought to understand how regulatory frameworks, health financing, local manufacturing capacity and domestic research activities impact/may impact health technology access in the country.

Facilitator
> Prof Leslie London - People’s Health Movement South Africa

Speakes
> Catherine Tomlinson: Freelance public health consultant and health journalist
> Candice Sehoma - Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
> Umunyana Rugege - Section27 Facebook · Twitter · Donate · Website