During the last pandemic, when vaccines ran short, Africa waited its turn behind the countries that made them and held them back. President Macky Sall's candidacy for UN Secretary-General draws a lesson in sovereignty from that wait. A continent then producing about 1% of the vaccines it consumes measured what dependence costs.

Scarcity followed the geography of production. Doses went first to where they were made. Sharing commitments came afterwards, slower than the virus. For a continent of one and a half billion people, health security could no longer rest on the goodwill of others alone.

The 60% target for 2040. As chair of the African Union, President Macky Sall carried the goal of continental production: raising to 60% the share of vaccines used in Africa that are made there by 2040, a target set by the African Union. In Senegal, the Institut Pasteur de Dakar launched a manufacturing project that gives that goal a first foothold.

Health is a matter of security. An outbreak left uncontained somewhere becomes everyone's business sooner or later, and the arithmetic that applies to preventing conflict applies to viruses. Investing in the production, surveillance and response capacity of the most exposed regions also protects those that believe themselves safe.

Technology transfer and sharing commitments. From one pandemic to the next, the Secretary-General can keep the question open. The task is to lift the barriers to technology transfer and back the financing mechanisms, then, when the next crisis comes, to remind states of their sharing commitments.

Health sovereignty defended at the African Union. These commitments on health rest on twelve years as head of state and on the chairmanship of the African Union in 2022. That experience explains why the vision statement filed with the United Nations frames them as obligations and conceives peace and security together with development.

Africa at its heart, the world in its sights.

The African Union and World Health Organization data on vaccine production are public. Read all public positions at www.mackysall.net