Islamic Summit to promote self-sufficiency in producing vaccines, bolster partnership with UN

The 13th session of the Islamic Summit Conference, to be held in Istanbul, Turkey, on Thursday, will promote self-sufficiency in producing vaccines within member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, OIC.

An OIC source told the International Islamic News Agency, IINA, that the issue of vaccines and strengthening immunity in Islamic countries occupied a great deal of the summit’s preparatory deliberation.

The source said that the summit will review several short- and medium-term solutions to achieve self-sufficiency in vaccine production.

He also revealed that the Islamic Summit will look into strengthening the organisation’s cooperation with the World Health Organization, the UN Population Fund, and UNICEF in order to improve immunisation against infectious diseases and controlling epidemics.

The summit also will brief Member States on the Global Action Plan for Antimicrobial Resistance, AMR, and will ask them to effectively address this problem.

The OIC concentrated on developing its member states’ vaccine industries after the World Health Organisation released a report saying that vaccination could save the lives of 2.5 million people a year.

Source:WAM