Claire Sambou: Together we are stronger

The 2021 theme of World Health Day: “building a fairer, healthier world” is a daily goal for Claire Sambou. Claire is a Mandela Washington Fellowship Alumna from Senegal and Regional Program Coordinator for OAFRESS (Organisation d’Afrique Francophone pour le Renforcement des Systèmes de Santé), where she works to improve access to health education and immunizations for those most in need.

OAFRESS works with over 18 African countries, advocating for policy and funding on the national level and educating on the community level. “Together we are stronger, and our voice has more influence”, Claire explains, noting that all the young organization’s relationships have just been established in the past decade.

In 2019 at the Africa Ideas Summit, Claire shared with us that “Vaccine preventable diseases still kill more than half-a-million children younger than 5 every year in Africa”. During the COVID-19 pandemic, some communities around the world have been introduced to issues of vaccine access for the first time; meanwhile, distribution and reputational challenges are a daily battle for widespread vaccination in many low income and rural communities around the world. In that same talk, Claire went on to remind us that “Achieving universal health coverage means that all people, no matter their socioeconomic status, can access and afford quality health services.” She is a fierce defender, when it comes to basic health services, of leaving no one behind.

One of OAFRESS’s current funders is the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), which brings together UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank, and others to “help vaccinate almost half the world’s children against deadly and debilitating infectious diseases” – no small feat, regardless of such a hefty partnership. GAVI is also the lead implementing partner of COVAX, currently working to “accelerate the development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines, and to guarantee fair and equitable access for every country in the world.”

Claire shared with us recently that the pandemic has led to “significant repercussions on continuity of healthcare services, especially vaccine activities.” Rumors and misinformation have raised questions globally about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine, leading some to question the quality of other long standing vaccines for conditions like polio or malaria (the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective). Community health centers have seen far less traffic as people isolate to prevent COVID-19 spread. And further, the urgent demand of resources required to combat the Coronavirus has left some other disease information programs on pause indefinitely. “This is worrying, as there is a risk that other health problems will take precedence if prevention and essential care activities are abruptly stopped for several months,” Claire told us, with concern.

Still, as we celebrate World Health Day this week, there is great hope. Nearly 700 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered at the time of this writing, and just as importantly, community-focused organizations like OAFRESS are not easily slowed down. Claire says that in celebration of World Health Day, the organization will issue a position paper, recalling the need to involve civil society at all levels of the process in access to health services and immunization. “But above all,” she says, “our goal is holding governments and partners accountable for reaching all populations with high-quality immunization and health services.”

In what has been such an incredibly tough year for all, we honor the work of alumni like Claire, working to ensure a healthy and just future for everyone in our global community. As we face the unique challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, including stark inequities in access and preventative care opportunities, their resounding commitments to collaboration will ensure that our world moves forward to a “fairer, healthier world.”

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The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders is a program of the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. Government and administered by IREX. The Presidential Precinct is a sub-grantee of IREX and is implementing a U.S.-based Leadership Institute as a part of the Fellowship. For more information about the Mandela Washington Fellowship, please visit the Fellowship’s website at www.mandelawashingtonfellowship.org