“The objective is clear,” said Omar Abdi, Deputy Executive Director of Programmes, UNICEF. “We have a target to train, to deploy and support health workers in Africa,” he said adding UNICEF and Africa CDC had the commitment to bring an additional half a million healthcare workers to 2 million already agreed by the African Union Heads of State.
Abdi said meeting the target had a bearing on how the continent would perform during public health emergencies and how it would positively impact reducing morbidity and mortality among children.
“The task at hand is crucial but timely since we are still facing unprecedented challenges in our healthcare systems,” said Dr Mohammed Abdulaziz, head of the Disease Control Division at CDC Africa.
“The need for community health workers integration into the broader health system in Member States has never been more urgent than this time when a lot more of our professional health workforce are migrating to the developed countries for greener pastures,” he added.
There is a need to share best practices, pool resources, and coordinate activities at Member States and continental levels, to maximize the impact and achieve greater efficiency in improving healthcare services across the continent through the operationalization of the continental coordination mechanism (CCM) for community health, Dr Abdulaziz said.
“To effect change, we must prioritize investment in community health workers, ensuring they are adequately compensated, skilled, and supported, with special attention to women health workers at the frontline of the response for children and their families,” said Dr Laila Gad, UNICEF representative to the AU and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
Dr Gad said this investment will not only accelerate health targets for all African children but also better prepare health systems for future pandemics and public health emergencies, she added noting, partnership is paramount in this endeavour.
In February this year, Africa CDC and UNICEF announced an extended partnership framework aimed at bolstering primary healthcare, supply chain management, pooled procurement, local manufacturing, and public health emergency responses.
Dr Abdulaziz said this collaboration builds on the existing 2022-2024 Partnership Framework Agreement between Africa CDC and UNICEF, aligned with the goals of the African Union Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want.
At the core of this initiative is high-level advocacy for political prioritization and integration of Community Health Workers (CHWs) into human resource for health with the plan to deploy 50,000 CHWs over the next two years, progressing towards 500,000 by 2027. This in line with the African Union Heads of State initiative to deploy 2 million CHWs in Africa.

To achieve this, the partnership builds on the 2017 African Union Decision on CHWs and the Monrovia Call to Action by reinforcing commitments to invest in, scale, and strengthen community health workers programs.

About Africa CDC: The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is a continental autonomous public health agency of the African Union that supports member states in their efforts to strengthen health systems and improve surveillance, emergency response, and prevention and control of diseases. Learn more at: http://www.africacdc.org

About UNICEF: UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. Across more than 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone. Learn more at www.unicef.org

Media inquiries:
Margaret Edwin, Director of Communication & Public Information Division: Africa CDC | Tel: +251 986 632 878 | Email: EdwinM@africacdc.org
Ricardo Pires| UNICEF New York | Tel: +1 917 631 1226 | Email: rpires@unicef.org

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Since the late 1980s, the World Health Organization (WHO) has provided a safety, quality, and efficacy assurance assessment process, now known as “WHO prequalification” (PQ), to ensure vaccines, medicines, diagnostics, and other health products supplied by procurement agencies meet acceptable standards and to facilitate the regulatory review and uptake of health products in Iow-resource settings.

In Africa, the slow process of WHO PQ was seen as one of the key limitations on the way to achieving the local manufacturing agenda. In this context, Africa CDC welcomes the new WHO policy to initiate parallel processes both for recommendation guidelines and PQ or Emergency Use Listing Procedure (EUL) assessment as an important step in addressing the inequity in rapidly accessing essential and innovative health products. The use of interim guidelines, especially for innovator products, will be useful in accelerating timelines. Nevertheless, they require significant efforts to address the high data and evidence standards, know how to produce a complete dossier for submission and interact with PQ’s consultation processes.

One of the critical and intrinsic factors for sustainable manufacturing in Africa is ensuring that African manufacturers have access to efficient and harmonized regulatory pathways that ensure high-quality products and market access for African-made products. The acquisition of maturity level 3 (ML3) status in five (5) African countries, coupled with ongoing competency programs through Regional Centres for Regulatory Excellence (RCOREs), underscores the critical importance for African regulatory experts to possess expertise and capabilities that align with adequate regulatory oversight across the entire lifecycle of vaccine production.

Lengthy and fragmented processes to acquire regulatory approval will lead to late market access and financial and administrative burdens for African manufacturers. In addressing this, achieving WHO prequalification to enter the United Nations (UN) procurement system is particularly important for African manufacturers to reach the economics of scales necessary to foster a conducive manufacturing eco-system, including Research and Development. We encourage WHO to continue to support the strengthening of these important activities and engagement and communication across diverse stakeholder communities. Africa CDC will continue to monitor the progress and execution of these and similar recommendations for the benefits of local manufacturing of pharmaceutical products in Africa.

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Building on the health commitments of the 6th EU-AU Summit and outcomes of the Addis Ababa AU-EU High-level dialogue, the AU and EU expanded collaboration in priority areas of common interest in the New Public Health Order and the EU Global Health Strategy, such as strengthening pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, One Health, AMR, digital health, climate and health. This collaboration is a positive example of the AU-EU partnership to support global health in multilateral fora. Enhancing equitable access to safe, qualitive, effective and affordable health services and products and national sovereignty will be key to reach SDG-targets such as achieving Universal Health Coverage. Therefore, it is crucial to support social protection systems which incorporate social health protection, aiming at gradually granting universal health coverage as well as at providing income security in case of sickness. The AU and EU further stressed the importance of the health sector in the creation of jobs and growth. They also expressed their commitment to conclude negotiations on a pandemic agreement and International Health Regulations by the May 2024 World Health Assembly.

Most African countries are struggling to ensure sustainable and equitable access to the health products needed to meet the continent’s priority health needs. At the same time, the EU has expertise in health as well as manufacturing and access, including regulation of health products and has set out clear targets in supporting human development in its international partnerships.

With this High-level conference, the EU engages in continued technical collaboration on health in Africa and investments in strengthening Africa’s health security architecture. The EU’s Global Gateway strategy will be key to deliver on these commitments, notably through Team Europe Initiatives, increasing the resilience of European and African health systems in response to the rapidly shifting health burden, social protection, the impact of climate change and emerging health threats while considering innovative science, sharing of technical expertise and knowledge (as well as multi-stakeholder commitments).

The Belgian Presidency and the European Commission will follow up on the high-level conference in the European Council and in the governing bodies of the EU’s international cooperation instruments, aligned with shared interests and ambitions of European and African partners.

African Union Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development,

H.E. Amb. Minata Samate Cessouma

“The establishment of the African Medicines Agency (AMA) marks a crucial step forward in safeguarding health security on the continent by ensuring the availability and the accessibility of quality pharmaceutical products. This availability and accessibility facilitate prevention strategies and rapid responses to health emergencies, strengthening regulatory capacities and promoting regional cooperation and harmonisation of standards. By harmonising regulatory processes and promoting access to effectual medical products, the AMA can significantly enhance public health outcomes and promote sustainable development in Africa, as envisioned in the Africa Health Strategy (2016-2030) and the African Union Agenda 2063. AMA is also envisioned to bolster research and development efforts within the continent, fostering innovation and self-reliance in addressing health challenges specific to the continent. Looking to the future, the African Union Commission is enthusiastic about knowledge-sharing between the European Union and Africa to leverage the experience of establishing the European Mediines Agency to chart guidance and regulatory pathways for the development and approval of new manufacturing technologies and processes.

Belgian Minister of Development Cooperation and Major Cities,

H.E. Caroline GENNEZ

“The EU and Africa express a shared vision of health as the precondition for social development. African countries have extensive experience in the containment of epidemics; European countries have some of the best and most accessible healthcare in the world. Global health is an area in which the EU offers added value as a partner to Africa based on its expertise and experience. Europe bolsters its international partnerships by focusing on its unique selling proposition. Our cooperation on this front will improve health outcomes for countless of people, in Africa and Europe. Our focus will be on building affordable, available and high-quality healthcare systems.”

European Commissioner for International Partnerships,

H.E. Jutta URPILAINEN

“Learning the lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, the AU and the EU are committed to advance health systems and strengthen health capacities globally. This joint commitment was well reflected in the Global Gateway investment package, which we presented at the AU-EU Summit of 2022. We are proud of the results achieved in increasing local manufacturing of medicines and vaccines in Africa, for Africa. Today we launch three major Team Europe Initiatives on health security, digital health and public health institutes, and strengthen cooperation between our institutions. This is another step forward to better confront evolving health challenges and to enhance the resilience of our communities.”

European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety,

H.E. Stella KYRIAKIDES

“An ever-closer partnership between the African Union and the European Union is indispensable for public health. We want to work more closely with our African partners on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, One Health and anti-microbial resistance, as well as the health effects of climate change. These are core objectives for our EU Global Health Strategy and the foundations of our cooperation with the African continent. We are now at a critical stage of the negotiations on the pandemic agreement and the international health regulations, with which we would provide new multilateral solutions to common challenges. The EU is committed to conclude the negotiations by May, a responsibility equally shared by all nations. I am pleased that the African Union and EU are joining voices and taking concrete steps to support global health internationally.”

Africa CDC Director General,

H.E Dr Jean Kaseya

“As we navigate the complexities of global health, Africa is on the path towards self-sufficiency through equitable access to medical products. Africa’s target of producing 60% of vaccines by 2040 through the Africa CDC underscores our commitment to health sovereignty. Through strategic partnerships like the EU-AU collaboration, we accelerate our capabilities, leveraging expertise and resources to build resilient health systems and strengthen Pandemic preparedness.”

Specific outcomes of the high-level conference include the following concrete engagements:

• Working Arrangement between Africa CDC and the European Commission to best implement the expanded strategic AU-EU Health partnership;
• The European Commission and the Belgian Presidency announced additional TEI MAV+ funding for the advancement of the African Medicines Agency;
• The announcement of procurement commitments by Global Health Initiatives to buy in Africa for Africa;
• Three additional Team Europe Initiatives on health were launched: Health Security using a One Health approach, Digital Health, and Public Health Institutes;
• The Team Europe Initiative (TEI) on Social Protection was launched;
• Work product leads for Team Europe and Team Africa were confirmed;
• A new programme ‘SafeBirth Africa’ to support improved access to innovative life-saving commodities for sexual and reproductive health in Africa. The programme will be implemented by Unitaid and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), supported by a financial contribution of €20 million from the EU budget under the Team Europe Initiative on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights that was launched in Kigali in December 2022;
• An expanded AU-EU High Level Steering Meeting (HLSM) at DG-level will jointly oversee regional heath TEIs.
  
  -END-
  
  Media inquiry:
  Communication and Public Information Directorate| Africa CDC | Email: Communications@africacdc.org

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Recognizing the vital role of respectful and action-oriented partnerships outlined in the new public health order, Africa CDC and the Ministry of Health convened high-level partners to rally support for preventing and controlling monkeypox and cholera in DRC. The meeting, held on February 10, 2024, in Kinshasa, focused on the current epidemiological situation of monkeypox and cholera, identified response challenges, and mobilized partners’ support for government efforts.

H.E Dr Jean Kaseya, Director General of Africa CDC, highlighted Africa CDC’s support for cholera and Monkeypox response efforts, including deploying experts, training local health workers on surveillance and one health approaches, providing diagnostics, and supporting the genomics initiatives. However, cognizant of the increasing trend and risk of disease spread, the Director General underscored the need for renewed commitment of all partners and heightened response efforts to prevent further spread and control the outbreaks.

Through this meeting, partners had an opportunity to review and approve the action plans for response and further renewed their commitment to supporting the Government of DRC in the fight against Mpox and cholera.

Dr Roger Kamba, the Minister of Health in DRC, acknowledged Africa CDC’s pivotal role, citing empirical evidence that DRC bears a significant burden of monkeypox cases in Africa. “I am establishing a task force to facilitate the coordination of all partners involved in the response efforts,” he said.

From January 2023 to January 31, 2024, Africa recorded 266,436 cases and 4,419 deaths of cholera, with the DRC reporting over 16% of cases. Over the same period, Africa reported 16,549 Mpox cases and 853 deaths, with the DRC reporting 97.5% of cases.

More partnerships

Additionally, in reinforcing cooperation with local partners, the Africa CDC and Soins de Santé Primaire en Milieu Rural (SANRU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to foster collaboration and cooperation between the two organizations. The signing ceremony marked a pivotal moment in advancing healthcare initiatives in the DRC and beyond.

The Africa CDC and SANRU have identified several key areas for collaboration, including advocating for, developing, and strengthening the capacities of Primary Healthcare (PHC) with paid Community Health Worker (CHW) Programs, deploying Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) activities, facilitating the integration of community health worker programs into national health systems, and partnering to achieve gender equality and autonomy of women and girls in accessing health services.

“The signing of this agreement institutes our shared commitment to accelerate the achievement of universal health coverage and enhance health security in DRC and Africa. By promoting community health programs, supporting multi-sectoral interventions, and building a critical mass of community health workers, we aim to address gender inequalities in access to health, ultimately improving health outcomes for all,” said H.E Dr Jean Kaseya, Director General of Africa CDC.

During the same mission, discussions on improving public health decision-making, policies and practices leveraging locally generated and context-relevant evidence with Prof. Jean Jacques Muyembe, the Director General of the National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB) of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were held.  Discussions centred on the mechanisms of strengthening research and clinical trials related to monkeypox.

Additionally, Africa CDC engaged with the National Public Health Institute (NPHI) to strengthen the partnership between Africa CDC and NPHI and identify areas of supporting DRC NPHI to fulfil its mission of promoting health by coordinating public health functions and programs to prevent, detect, and respond to public health threats, including infectious and non-infectious diseases and other health events.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) faces unique challenges due to its biodiversity, ecological complexity, and socio-political landscape, making it vulnerable to public health crises such as cholera and Monkeypox. Coordinated efforts and resources are essential to prevent and respond to such events effectively.

Recent epidemics of Monkeypox and cholera, declared by the Minister of Public Health, Hygiene, and Sanitation, have seen a concerning surge in cases across the nation, even in non-endemic regions. The situation demands extraordinary measures to curb the spread and minimize social and economic impact.

Media inquiries:

For media enquiries please contact:

Dorothy Njagi | Senior Communication Officer- Communication & Public Information directorate | Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention| African Union| email: email: njagid@africacdc.org  | Website: www.africacdc.org| Addis Ababa| Ethiopia| Facebook | Twitter

About Africa CDC

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is a continental autonomous public health agency of the African Union that supports member states in their efforts to strengthen health systems and improve surveillance, emergency response, and prevention and control of diseases. Learn more at: http://www.africacdc.org

About SANRU SANRU (Soins de Santé Primaire en Milieu Rurale) is a non-governmental organization based on the Christian faith. SANRU ASBL has a long experience in public health in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This goes back to 1981, three years after the WHO launched the concept of “health for all and by all” at the ALMA ATA Conference. Indeed, SANRU was one of the first organizations to implement the project to create and revitalize Health Zones in the DRC for over three decades. Learn more: https://www.sanru.cd/

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The MoU aims to strengthen Africa CDC’s efforts to build more robust public health systems and improve health security across the continent. Key areas of collaboration under the MoU include strengthening Africa CDC’s capacity; supporting the development of national public health institutes; enhancing disease surveillance and emergency response capacities; promoting local manufacturing of vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics; supporting workforce training; and fostering research partnerships between French and African institutions.

“The signing of this MoU solidifies our shared vision in nurturing a coordinated global response to global public health challenges. This action-oriented framework aims to advance the New Public Health order, enhance health workforce development, and strengthen public health systems for the benefit of all African citizens,” said H.E Dr. Jean Kaseya at the signing ceremony.

This MoU builds on France’s longstanding support for public health in Africa. France played a leading role in launching the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator and has donated 10 million vaccine doses to the AVAT mechanism and 48 million doses to 40 African states, mainly through the COVAX initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines. The French Development Agency provided a €50 million line of credit to Afreximbank for the AVAT payment facility, enabling vaccine purchases by Uganda, Burundi, DRC and Egypt. The AFD has committed over €500 million to health programs in Africa through its ” Santé en Commun ” (Health in Common) initiative. France also provides technical expertise to Africa CDC in infection, prevention and control (IPC) and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).

France is a major contributor to Team Europe Initiatives that align with Africa CDC’s priorities, like strengthening pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity on the continent with over €70 million mobilized so far. France also supports regional health projects in West and Central Africa that reinforce Africa CDC’s diagnostics, surveillance, and regulation objectives.

The signing of this MoU signals France and Africa CDC’s continued commitment to mutually tackling major public health challenges in the  interest of public health, safety, and security of all African citizens,”

For media inquiries, please contact:

Mikaele THOMAS
Press department at the French Embassy Tél : 01 11 40 00 25 Mél : Mikaele.thomas@diplomatie.gouv.fr
PO Box 1464, Addis-Ababa Yeka   Kebele : 01102, Addis Abeba

Dorothy Njagi | Senior Communication Officer- Policy, Health Diplomacy & Communication | Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention| African Union| email: email: njagid@africa-union.org | Website: www.africacdc.org| Addis Ababa| Ethiopia| Facebook | Twitter

About Africa CDC: Africa CDC is an autonomous health agency of the African Union which supports Member States in their efforts to strengthen health systems and improve surveillance, emergency response, prevention and control of diseases. Learn more at: http://www.africacdc.org 

About the African Union: The African Union is a continental body that leads Africa’s development and integration in close collaboration with the 55 Member States, the Regional Economic Communities and African citizens. The AU’s vision is to accelerate progress towards an integrated, prosperous, and inclusive Africa, at peace with itself, playing a dynamic role in the continental and global arena, effectively driven by an accountable, efficient, and responsive Commission. Learn more at: http://www.au.int/en

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