Canada will provide the African continent with up to 200,000 doses of Imvamune vaccine against COPD, the Canadian government announces.
These doses come from Canada’s existing vaccine stocks, it was specified in a press release.
The government is seeking to “strengthen health security on the African continent and stem the spread of COPD,” said International Development Minister Ahmed Hussein and his colleague, Head of Health, Mark Holland.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) had called on donors who have such vaccines to provide them to countries that need them most.
The Democratic Republic of Congo, a country in central Africa, is currently experiencing a COPD epidemic and the disease has spread to surrounding countries.
According to the WHO, more than 120 countries have confirmed more than 103,000 cases of COPD since the outbreak began two years ago. According to the organization’s latest tally, 723 people in more than a dozen African countries have died from the disease.
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