VP in Egypt for Africa health expo
ZIMBABWE will take advantage of the biggest medical exhibition and conference on the continent, the Africa Health ExCon, which begins here today, to explore ways of improving its medical and pharmaceutical sector, among other pursuits, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga has said.
The VP, who is also the Minister of Health and Child Care, arrived in Cairo yesterday and will lead Zimbabwe’s delegation at the conference, which is scheduled to be opened this morning by Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Zimbabwe’s participation at the expo comes at a time the country has received international commendation for the way it responded to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In an interview yesterday, VP Chiwenga said: “The purpose of our visit is to come and attend a medical conference which will be opened by the President of Egypt tomorrow (today). Besides that, I will also be on the panel where a number of issues will be discussed and I will also have the opportunity to discuss issues on what we should do as developing countries to address our medical situations. There are also a lot of exhibitors, like pharmaceutical companies which are producing a lot of drugs and vaccines that we are interested in.”
The conference, which will be running under the theme “Your Gate to Innovation and Trade”, will be held at Al-Manara International Conference Centre in New Cairo district.
The three-day conference (June 5-June 7) was organised by the Egyptian Authority for Unified Procurement (UPA) and will see the participation of 2 000 delegates representing government health entities from Africa and the Middle East. Over 350 companies operating in more than 102 countries will take part in the conference and are expected to unveil the latest medical technologies and outline the best practices for sustainable healthcare on the continent. It will also include 350 sessions and 20 workshops featuring more than 800 international medical speakers and experts.
Conference sessions will showcase latest technologies in the field of medicine as well as initiatives that support the Africa ExCon as a sustainable platform that connects international healthcare partners together.
Overall, the expo targets to ensure equitable access of health technology on the continent, improve health pharma business in Africa, health innovation and trade.
Egypt’s US$300 billion economy is one of the three biggest economies on the continent.