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Regional Response to COVID-19 Pandemic
Since the global outbreak of the coronavirus known as COVID-19 in De-
cember 2019, SADC Member States have aligned the response to address
national and regional challenges. SADC recorded its first case of COVID-
19 in early March 2020, and since then, the loss of life and economic im-
pact have been increasing, although measures have been taken at national
level to reduce the spread of the virus such as wearing of masks, sanitizing
and social distancing, as well as lockdowns, state of emergencies or curfews.
The following measures have been adopted at regional level:
● Agreement by Member States to establish national emergency operations
centres to facilitate coordination of logistics and stockpiling for disasters at
the national level, and to establish National Emergency Trust Funds and Na-
tional Resource Mobilisation Strategies to facilitate mobilisation of resources for na-
tional disaster responses;
● Suspension of regional face-to-face meetings and resorting to modern technology for
virtual meetings;
● Re-establishment and expansion of the Technical Committee for Coordinating and
Monitoring the Implementation of the SADC Protocol on Health;
● Implementation of the SADC Pooled Procurement Services for pharmaceuticals and
medical supplies;
● Introduction of SADC Regional Status report on COVID-19 which is produced and
shared with Member States on a weekly basis with recommendations for consideration;
● Introduction of the Revised Regional Guidelines on Harmonisation and Facilitation 119
of Cross Border Transport Operations across the Region, and Regional Standard Op-
erating Procedures for the Management and Monitoring of Cross Border Road Trans-
port at Designated Points of Entry and at Covid-19 Checkpoints.

Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Strategy
The SADC Secretariat with technical support from the United Nations “2gether 4
SRHR” Programme (UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF and WHO), UNESCO and SheDe-
cides, have developed the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Strategy (SRHR)
for the SADC Region 2019-2030. The purpose of the strategy is to provide a policy
and programming framework for SADC Member States to accelerate the attainment
of sexual and reproductive health rights for all people living in the SADC region.
The strategy builds on the Programme of Action of the International Conference
on Population and Development, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Maputo Plan
of Action 2016–2030, and the SADC Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) Strategy
for the SADC Region 2006–2015, informed by the most current thinking on SRHR as
defined by the Lancet-Guttmacher Commission on Accelerating Progress: SRHR for All,
and the Manifesto of the global SheDecides movement.
The SADC SRHR Scorecard has also been developed as a high-level peer review
accountability tool to track progress on implementation of the SRHR strategy and the
Sustainable Development Goals. This is the first ever multi-sectoral scorecard to be
adopted by a regional entity and consists of 20 key indicators requiring accelerated action
if the 10 outcomes of the strategy are to be met. An M&E plan was being finalised in 2020
to monitor implementation of the strategy.

Pooled Procurement Services of Pharmaceuticals
The SADC Pooled Procurement Services (SPPS) of Pharmaceuticals was established in
2018 and is hosted by the Medical Stores Department of the United Republic of Tanzania.
This is expected to facilitate the pooled procurement of essential medicine and health
commodities, and assist Member States to share pricing and supplier information to enable
the negotiation of better prices from suppliers of high quality medicines, thereby reducing
the administrative cost of procurement. The full rollout of the SPPS will reduce the cost
of procurement in the region and, with a sound regulatory environment, will improve the
procurement of quality medicines.