Mastercard Foundation commits $1.3bn to save lives, livelihoods in Africa

The Mastercard Foundation has earmarked $1.3 billion over the next three years to save lives and the livelihoods of people in Africa.

The initiative, which will be implemented in partnership with the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), will help hasten the economic recovery of the continent.

The saving lives and livelihoods initiative will acquire vaccines for at least 50 million people, support the delivery of vaccination across the continent, lay the groundwork for vaccine manufacture in Africa and also strengthen the Africa CDC.

“Ensuring equitable access to and delivery of vaccines across Africa is urgent. This initiative is about valuing all lives and accelerating the economic recovery of the continent,” the President and CEO of the Mastercard Foundation, Dr Reeta Roy, said in a virtual meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, last Tuesday.

“In the process, this initiative will catalyse work opportunities in the health sector and beyond as part of our Young Africa Works strategy,” she added.

Three African leaders participated in the virtual meeting — Mr Felix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo of the Democratic Republic of Congo, who is the Chairperson of the African Union (AU); Mr Paul Kagame of Rwanda and AU Domestic Health Financing Champion; Mr Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa of South Africa and AU COVID-19 Champion, as well as the Chairperson of the AU Commission, Mr Moussa Faki Mahamat.

Mastercard Foundation

The Mastercard Foundation is a Canadian foundation and one of the largest in the world, with more than $39 billion in assets.

The foundation was created in 2006 through the generosity of Mastercard when it became a public company.

Herd immunity

The AU’s goal, as set out in the African COVID-19 vaccine development and access strategy, is to vaccinate at least 60 per cent of Africa’s population — approximately 750 million people or the entire adult population of the continent — by the end of 2022.

To date, less than two per cent of Africans have received at least one vaccine dose.

The new partnership builds on the effort of the COVID-19 vaccine global access facility (COVAX), the COVID-19 African vaccine acquisition task team (AVATT) and the global community to expand access to vaccines across Africa.

The number of vaccines available to Africa represents a small portion of the global supply and the financial costs to purchase, deliver and administer the vaccines remain significant.

The Africa CDC, therefore, called on governments, global funders, the private sector and others to help meet this goal, hence the response from the Mastercard Foundation.

Public health order

The Director of the Africa CDC, Dr John Nkengasong, said the partnership with the Mastercard Foundation was a bold step towards establishing a new public health order for Africa, adding: “We welcome other actors to join in this historic journey.”

In 2020, Africa faced its first economic recession in 25 years due to the pandemic. The African Development Bank has also warned that the COVID-19 could reverse hard-won gains in poverty reduction over the past two decades and drive some 39 million people into extreme poverty in 2021.

Widespread vaccination is recognised as being critical to the economic recovery of African countries.