His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa has deputised Health Minister, Faeqa bint Said Al-Saleh, to participate in the inaugural meeting of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator Facilitation Council.
 
The kingdom’s participation in the first ACT Accelerator Facilitation Council is based on an invitation addressed to HRH the Prime Minister by the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
 
UN Secretary-General, President of the European Commission, President of South Africa, Prime Minister of Norway, President of Rwanda and WHO Director-General participated in the meeting, held Thursday via video conference.
 
The minister conveyed HRH Premier’s greetings to the participants, and congratulations on the launch of the ACT Accelerator Facilitation Council, reflecting the unprecedented global cooperation, as well as his wishes of success for the Council in eradicating the pandemic.
 
The Minister of Health praised the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator initiative, which calls for a global rally under a unified noble goal in order to support humanity, stressing that this initiative is a clear evidence of WHO’s support for international and global efforts.
 
She added that the ACT-Accelerator initiative emphasises WHO’s call to accelerate the production of COVID-19 vaccines, and the means for diagnosing and distributing them in an equitable manner, in a way that contributes to overcoming the obstacles facing all countries to address the pandemic.
 
In her statement to the high-level meeting, Minister Al-Saleh affirmed the interest of the Government of Bahrain in the health sector, within the framework of its strategy aimed at developing health services delivered to the citizens and residents according to the latest world standards, highlighting Bahrain’s support for the ACT-Accelerator initiative aimed at benefiting the entire humanity.
 
The minister shed light on the tremendous efforts exerted by Team Bahrain, led by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, to combat the pandemic locally, noting that those national efforts have contributed significantly to protecting the health and safety of the citizens and residents in Bahrain.
 
She reviewed the measures taken by Bahrain to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, citing the readiness of the health sector to deal with emergency situations in a precautionary manner, the provision of the necessary tools, the facilitation of clinical trials, and the provision of the best possible diagnostic and treatment options according to the latest scientific evidence, while taking interest in the field of research studies on diagnostics, treatments and vaccines.
 
She stressed the importance of supporting studies and research, as well as ensuring fair and equitable distribution across and within countries by international stakeholders and donors to ensure equal access to immunization-related diagnostic, therapeutic and options, and access to reliable, appropriate and affordable supplies and products, while facilitating cross-border packaging and trade.
 
This will enable countries to have clear plans for forecasting and distribution to be included in their budgets, she said, calling for adopting an international policy of transparency and accountability through which ethics, policies, and prioritised programmes are integrated to ensure the availability of the required quantities for the target groups in a timely manner.
 
Assistant Undersecretary for Public Health at the Ministry of Health Dr. Mariam Al Hajri, Infectious Disease Consultant, Dr. Jameela Al-Salman, and Public Health Consultant and Head of the Immunization group, Dr. Jalila Al-Sayed, also participated in the virtual meeting.
 
According to WHO, the “Access to COVID-19 Tools ACT-Accelerator”, is the proven, up-and-running global collaboration to accelerate the development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines. 

It was set up in response to a call from G20 leaders in March and launched by the WHO, European Commission, France and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in April 2020.
 
The ACT-Accelerator is not a decision-making body or a new organization, but works to speed up collaborative efforts among existing organizations to end the pandemic. 

It is a framework for collaboration that has been designed to bring key players around the table with the goal of ending the pandemic as quickly as possible through the accelerated development, equitable allocation, and scaled up delivery of tests, treatments and vaccines, thereby protecting health systems and restoring societies and economies in the near term. 

It draws on the experience of leading global health organizations which are tackling the world’s toughest health challenges, and who, by working together, are able to unlock new and more ambitious results against COVID-19. 

Its members share a commitment to ensure all people have access to all the tools needed to defeat COVID-19 and to work with unprecedented levels of partnership to achieve it. 
 
The ACT-Accelerator has four areas of work: diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines and the health system connector. Cross-cutting all of these is the workstream on Access & Allocation.