Tumukunde Initiative, GCAP Global and PVA commemorate lives lost from a preventable Covid-19 pandemic

By The Inspirer Writer.

Rwanda’s local organization Tumukunde Initiative in collaboration with Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) Global and The People’s Vaccine (PVA) have jointly commemorated the lives lost from a preventable Covid-19 pandemic, a scar for the world’s conscience.

The commemoration was characterized by a sports activity that took place inside Groupe Scolaire (G.S) Kimisagara-ABADAHIGWA on March 10, 2023, bringing together teachers and students as well as local authority leaders who shared various physical activities.

Sports was among the recommended measures to treat Covid-19 pandemic at the global scale.

Rwanda and the rest of the World mark the 3rd year living with Covid-19, a threat to health and economic development that has been declared a global pandemic from March 11, 2020. From then, the world counts over 757,264,511 cases and recorded over 6,850,594 deaths.

Rwanda itself counts over 133,170 cases and recorded 1,468 deaths.

Tumukunde Initiative calls for the world leaders to reflect on the mistakes made in responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, requesting them to pledge for “NEVER AGAIN”.

“We call upon world leaders to take four urgent steps, 1. To support a pandemic accord at the WHO that embeds equity and human rights in pandemic preparedness and response. To do so, it must commit governments to waive relevant intellectual property rules automatically and ensure the sharing of medical technology and knowledge when a public health emergency of international concern is declared,” said Eugene NZABANTERURA Executive Director of Tumukunde Initiative.

Student and teachers in a group photo after performing in a sports activity.

“2. We call upon world leaders to invest in scientific innovation and manufacturing capacity in the global south through projects like the mRNA Technology Transfer Hub established by WHO and partners. Governments, companies and international institutions should provide political, financial and technical support to these initiatives to maximize production and supply for all,” NZABANTERURA said.

Tumukunde Initiative also calls upon global leaders to invest in global common goods and to remove the intellectual property barriers that prevent knowledge and technology sharing (3).

“Governments at the World Trade Organization (WTO) took too long and did too little to address this barrier for Covid-19 vaccines. WTO members should move to approve an intellectual property waiver for Covid-19-related vaccines and extend that decision to cover Covid-19 tests and treatments. That would dramatically improve access to all these lifesaving products. Developing countries should exercise their rights to use the full flexibilities of the TRIPS agreement to protect public health,” NZABANTERURA added.

He said that the world leaders can base on the highlighted actions and begin to fix the structural problems in global health that have held back the response to Covid-19, HIV/AIDS, and other diseases.

“It is time to embed justice, equity, and human rights in pandemic preparedness and response. Only then can we truly turn the page on this chapter of history and say “Never Again,” NZABANTERURA said.

Speaking to The Inspirer, NZABANTERURA said that Tumukunde Initiative currently runs its activities in Groupe Scolaire (G.S) Kimisagara ABADAHIGWA, including education and health support, gender equality promotion between men and women, plus environment protection.

He advises citizens to continue complying with the measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic as it is still around.

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