Ebola vaccine will never reach people who need it the most because the rich countries are going to hog it, these were the views expressed by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi.

He was speaking at the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) in Qatar on a panel that was discussing the continuous change of infectious diseases and what this could mean for the world.

The panel wanted to also come with ways on how all the countries can work together to avoid any future surprises similar to Ebola and always be ready for such outbreaks.

Dr Motsoaledi said that he believes that the Ebola vaccine that is yet to be innovated will need to reach the poor African countries that are directly affected by the virus.

“Even if the world was to invent a vaccine for Ebola, only the rich countries will pick it up and vaccinate and the areas which need it the most because they’ve got weak healthcare systems will still not get it,” said Dr Motsoaledi.

He said this as he was pushing for the Universal Health Coverage and stronger healthcare systems in all countries.

Dr Motsoaledi explained how weak the healthcare systems in African countries are and how the global health care sector must come together to help strengthen them.

“Africa, our continent, when a head of state is sick in Africa they must go to Europe, America or the East. Until such time that head of states are treated and die on the continent, we will never have a good healthcare system on the continent.”

He said the universal health coverage will make sure the rich countries share resources such as vaccines and researches into new medication.

“We need reorganisation of healthcare system, we need a system of universal health coverage where by quality of healthcare is a central issue, that’s what we need.”

“Universal Health Coverage does not necessarily bring more money, it just reorganises the money that is there in a just equitable manner,” he said.

Dr Motsoaledi stood his ground during a steaming discussion and pushed for a universal wash your hands campaign which is very popular in South Africa.

He said that if the campaign could be pushed all over the world, it will give birth to things like clean running water among other things.

“We have got evidence that diseases like diarrhoea, if there is routine washing of hands everywhere, diarrhoea deaths will be cut by 50%. And you know they account to 5million deaths globally.

“In South Africa we have already started with a campaign on tv on the washing of hands as basics of hygiene and I think it must not be undermined it is very important.”

Although some of the panel members did not agree with him at first as they remained adamant that the campaign has no feasibility as it means the health departments will have extra work in convincing and fighting with water departments for more purified water, he said that the departments should actually be making sure there is clean running water as it is not only their job but having clean running water is a fundamental human right.

“We should put it there and say the washing of hands is one of the solutions, then it will make the world push ministers of water affairs to make clean running water available. That’s a basic human right.”

In pushing for the universal wealth coverage, he said that the Ebola outbreak caught the whole world by surprise and the healthcare sector should take that as ground zero and start gaining strength from that.

“I think it’s extremely important and I want to argue that we must regard Ebola, that’s happening in West Africa as ground zero from which the world must emerge and go in a new direction because frankly speaking, we don’t know what is going to come tomorrow.”