Daijiworld Media Network - Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa, Apr 6: As Africa faces an ‘unprecedented surge’ in public health emergencies, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has urged nations to strengthen domestic health financing mechanisms to respond effectively to emerging and ongoing challenges.
The call came through two reports released Thursday the Africa CDC Annual Report 2024 and Africa's Health Financing in a New Era Report both detailing the continent’s recent gains and looming setbacks in public health.
The data reveals a sharp 41 per cent increase in disease outbreaks, from 152 in 2022 to 213 in 2024, putting fragile health systems under extreme pressure and exposing serious vulnerabilities in response capacity.
A major concern highlighted is the financing crisis in Africa’s health sector, driven by a 70 per cent drop in official development assistance between 2021 and 2025. The situation is worsened by the continent's high dependence on external supplies, with over 90 per cent of vaccines, medicines, and diagnostics being imported making Africa vulnerable to global supply chain disruptions.
The health financing report warns that without urgent corrective measures, Africa could face a rollback of two decades of progress, potentially leading to 2–4 million additional preventable deaths annually and pushing 39 million more people into poverty by 2030 due to combined health and economic shocks.
Despite the challenges, the annual report outlines Africa CDC’s achievements in six priority areas: strengthening health systems, promoting local manufacturing, improving surveillance and early warning systems, enhancing national public health institutes, upgrading laboratory networks, and boosting emergency preparedness.
The agency played a key role in responding to major public health crises in 2024, including mpox outbreaks in over 20 countries, the Marburg virus in Rwanda, and cholera outbreaks in 15 countries.
The Africa CDC stressed that local solutions and stronger domestic investments are crucial for building resilient health systems capable of withstanding future shocks.