The President of the United Nations General Assembly, Amb. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, says the global body is pushing for equal access to COVID-19 vaccines by all countries once the vaccines are available.

He stated developing nations, including Nigeria and other African countries, have done better than the developed countries as regards the management of the pandemic.

Muhammad-Bande said this on Monday during a virtual press conference.

The UNGA President noted that the virus has spread rapidly to most countries in the world, resulting in considerable mortality in Europe and the United States, as well as in numerous upper-middle-income countries in South America and Asia.

Experts had predicted millions of COVID-19-associated deaths in Africa because many countries on the continent rank poorly on the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index.

However, more than five months after the first cases in Africa were detected, prevalence and mortality are still low.

According to Muhammad-Bande, “COVID-19 has reminded us that we cannot have peace when your neighbours are having no peace; you cannot be healthy when your neighbours are not healthy. The pandemic has brought this to bear directly.”

The UNGA president noted that the poorer segment in all countries has been hit the most by the pandemic, adding that even in countries that were better structured in terms of financing, the poorer villages were the most affected.

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He added, “Poor and rich countries are all affected. In some respect, Africa or Nigeria has done far better than countries that were expected to have done even better in dealing with the pandemic.

“Of course, the difference is that richer countries have been better able to provide palliatives for their citizens than poorer countries that were struggling even before the pandemic.”

Going forward, the Nigerian diplomat stressed that there was the need to pay more attention to the issue of disparity in technology, whether in education or in agriculture, in the developing countries.

He stated, “UN has taken the lead, pushing for equal access to vaccines once they are available. The United Nations operates on the principle of leaving no one behind.”

On the Mali crisis, the UNGA President noted that the Economic Community of West Africa States had been given the mandate to handle the issue.