Esther Krofah, executive director of FasterCures, talks to COVID-19 Africa Watch about the public health lessons learned so far from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Key Takeaways

Below are some of the main takeaways from COVID-19 Africa Watch’s conversation with Esther Krofah, executive director of FasterCures, a center of the Milken Institute, which works with its partners to build a patient-centric system where science is accelerated, unnecessary barriers are overcome, and lifesaving and life-enhancing treatments get to those who need them as rapidly as possible.

• The medical community has learned a great deal over the last year, particularly on the treatment side of the fight against COVID-19. Hospitalization results in death less often now than at the beginning of the pandemic.

• The big story is the development of several viable vaccines. The speed at which these vaccines were developed reflects at least three factors: 1) increased collaboration among government, the scientific community, and the private sector; 2) financial investment by government in vaccine candidates that had not yet been proven effective (which was highly uncommon prior to the pandemic); and 3) the pay-off of many years of investment in mRNA technology and research.

• Vaccine distribution is a race against time against the spread of variants, which are more transmissible and, as a result, more deadly. In general, though, the world should be moderately concerned about variants and should keep them at bay by maintaining current COVID-19 safety protocols.

• Three main lessons have emerged from the COVID-19 experience that can help societies prepare for the next pandemic. First, there should be continued investment in medical technologies and medical research. Second, there needs to be more investment in public health systems, at both the international and the local levels. And third, the private sector has proved to be a key player during the current pandemic and should be better integrated into public health planning and the public sector response.

The interview was conducted by John Schellhase, a director of global market development at the Milken Institute. A transcript is available below.