GENEVA — The International Federation Association of Football (FIFA) is teaming up with the World Health Organization (WHO) to promote the need for fair access to COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and diagnostics, and to encourage people to keep practicing life-saving, every day public health measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and to protect health.

In conjunction with the FIFA Club World Cup 2020, being held in Qatar from February 4 to 11, FIFA and WHO are launching a public awareness campaign involving star footballers, through TV and in-stadium messaging, to further promote the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator initiative launched in April 2020, and to urge people to practice mask wearing, physical distancing and hand hygiene.

“We all have to play our part in the battle against the coronavirus. We are also calling on the international community to #ACTogether to ensure a level playing field in relation to access to vaccines, treatments and diagnostic tests across the globe,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said during a video conference prior to the kick-off of the FIFA Club World Cup.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, thanked FIFA and the players for helping raise awareness on life saving interventions that all people can follow, and of the importance of intensified global support for the ACT Accelerator to ramp up development and equitable allocation of vaccines, treatments and tests to reduce severe disease and deaths caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Fairness is the foundation of football and all other sports, and this also must be the same when it comes to health,” said Dr. Ghebreyesus. “The rules of the COVID-19 challenge are simple: all people at risk from the coronavirus in all countries must have equitable access to life-saving vaccines, treatments and diagnostics. In just nine months, the world has established these three powerful lines of defence against COVID-19. But our goal now is to ensure equitable access and continued refinement of these tools.

“WHO is grateful to FIFA for teaming up with health partners around the world to promote the need for the fair distribution of the tools needed to defeat the coronavirus,” added Dr. Ghebreyesus.

The new FIFA-WHO collaboration will amplify life-saving messages to a global audience with a series of promotional videos being broadcast during the FIFA Club World Cup. In the videos, competing club captains reiterate the key steps for everyone to follow in order to tackle and defeat the coronavirus by focusing on hands, elbow, face, distance, symptoms, masks and opening windows.

“It is important that we do not forget that health comes first,” said Infantino. “Only by following the advice of our medical professionals will we be able to eliminate the threat posed by COVID-19, and I call upon everyone to follow these steps in their daily lives. This advice not only protects you, but also protects your loved ones and those around you. In delivering these messages during the FIFA Club World Cup, I appreciate the support given by the participating teams and their players, coaching staff and other officials in respecting the protocols that need to be followed in order to play this tournament, and to ensure that we keep the football flame flickering brightly during these challenging times.”

The video awareness campaign will feature players and head coaches from the competing teams at the FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2020 together with FIFA Legends, and will be published on various FIFA, WHO and club digital channels, with the support of broadcasters worldwide.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — COVAX, a coalition led by WHO and Gavi to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, has notified St. Kitts and Nevis and other countries in the Americas of the estimated dose allocation for the first phase of vaccine delivery in a letter to health authorities, the Pan American Health Organization reported.

Thirty-six countries and territories participating in COVAX received letters about the estimated number of doses of AstraZeneca vaccine that they could be receiving from the second half of February through the second quarter of 2021.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is still under review by WHO for emergency use approval (EUL), which is expected to occur in the next few days. The number of doses and delivery schedule is still subject to EUL and manufacturing production capacity, as well as establishing supply agreements between the producers, PAHO, and UNICEF. According to the COVAX statement, it is estimated that around 35.3 million doses will be arriving in the Americas in this first stage.

“With more than 45 million confirmed cases and more than one million deaths, countries and territories throughout the Americas, particularly the poorest among them, are experiencing an unprecedented health, economic and social crisis,” said PAHO Director Carissa F. Etienne.

The start of vaccine delivery through the COVAX mechanism is a hopeful step in the fight against this virus and PAHO is proud to facilitate an effort that is urgently needed for our region.”

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GENEVA — Today, four-in-ten of the world’s deaths are unregistered and in the African region, only one-in-ten deaths is currently recorded, according to the first ever global assessment of country health information systems released today by the World Health Organization in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Two-thirds of low-income countries have established a standardized system to report causes of deaths. However, the SCORE Report highlights the urgent need to strengthen these systems to help the world respond to health emergencies and track progress towards global health goals.

The pandemic has highlighted that even the most advanced health and data systems still struggle to provide data in near real-time in order to act swiftly. The lack of data worldwide limits the understanding of the true mortality impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, undermining response planning.

“The pandemic has stretched the capacity of country health information systems around the world, as they must track both the disease and other critical health trends,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “The SCORE report is an important step towards better data, for better decisions and better health.”

Estimates show that 60 percent of the countries reviewed have a well-developed system for reviewing progress and performance of their health sector and only half have the capacity to monitor quality of care. Only 32 percent of the countries have good capacity for a national digital health strategy based on recommended standards.

“With SCORE at hand, WHO will support countries around the world to address data gaps and strengthen their data and health information systems,” said Dr Samira Asma, Assistant Director-General, for Data, Analytics and Delivery.

Although, there is good availability of data on areas such as immunization, tuberculosis and HIV incidence, there is less coverage on health issues such as mental health and cancer. Less than half of countries report national facility data on severe mental health disorders.

This lack of data severely limits countries in their ability to plan and implement effective health programmes.

“The SCORE report guides countries to invest in priority areas with the greatest impact on the collection, analysis and use of health data. Among other recommendations the report urges countries to strengthen their overall health data systems, to improve their death data registration systems and to collect more and better quality data to address inequalities,” said Michael Bloomberg, WHO Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases and Injuries.

The report and the portal are part of WHO’s SCORE for Health Data Technical Package that will support countries and regions to view their assessments, conduct analyses, and improve health data for healthier populations.

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