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Africa’s Health Financing in a New Era

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) (2025) CC

Africa’s health sector is facing an unprecedented financing crisis, driven by a sharp decline of 70% in Official Development Assistance (ODA) from 2021 to 2025 and deep-rooted structural vulnerabilities. This collapse is placing immense pressure on Africa’s already fragile health systems as ODA ...is seen as the backbone of critical health programs: pandemic preparedness, maternal and child health services, disease control programs are all at risk, threatening Sustainable Development Goal 3 and Universal Health Coverage. Compounding this is Africa’s spiraling debt, with countries expected to service USD 81 billion by 2025—surpassing anticipated external financing inflows—further eroding fiscal space for health investments. Level of domestic resources is low. TThe Abuja Declaration of 2001, a pivotal commitment made by African Union (AU) member states, aimed to reverse this trend by pledging to allocate at least 15% of national budgets to the health sector. However, more than two decades later, only three countries—Rwanda, Botswana, and Cabo Verde—have consistently met or exceeded this target (WHO, 2023). In contrast, over 30 AU member states remain well below the 10% benchmark, with some allocating as little as 5–7% of their national budgets to health. In addition, only 16 (29%) of African countries currently have updated versions of National Health Development Plan (NHDP) supported by a National Health Financing Plan (NHFP). These two documents play a critical role in driving internal resource mobilisation. At the same time, public health emergencies are surging, rising 41%—from 152 in 2022 to 213 in 2024—exposing severe under-resourcing of health infrastructure and workforce. Recurring outbreaks (Mpox, Ebola, cholera, measles, Marburg…) alongside effects of climate change and humanitarian crises in Eastern DRC, the Sahel, and Sudan, are overwhelming systems stretched by chronic underfunding. The situation is worsened by Africa’s heavy dependency with over 90% of vaccines, medicines, and diagnostics being externally sourced—leaving countries vulnerable to global supply chain shocks. Health worker shortages persist, with only 2.3 professionals per 1,000 people (below the WHO’s recommended 4.45), and fewer than 30% of systems are digitized, undermining disease surveillance and early warning. Without decisive action, Africa CDC projects the continent could reverse two decades of health progress, face 2 to 4 million additional preventable deaths annually, and a heightened risk of a pandemic emerging from within. Furthermore, 39 million more Africans could be pushed into poverty by 2030 due to intertwined health and economic shocks. This is not just a sectoral crisis—it is an existential threat to Africa’s political, social, and economic resilience, and global stability. In response, African leaders, under Africa CDC’s stewardship, are advancing a comprehensive three-pillar strategy centered on domestic resource mobilization, innovative financing, and blended finance. more

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Toolkit for developing a multisectoral action plan for noncommunicable diseases: module 5: evaluating the implementation of a multisectoral action plan

World Health Organization (WHO) World Health Organization (WHO) (2022) C_WHO

Key stakeholders must be involved in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of NCD plans and programmes. Within a ministry of health there will be different types of stakeholders, such as programme managers and senior managers in departments of prevention, health promotion, and hosp... more

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Eliminating malaria in the Greater Mekong Subregion: United to end a deadly disease

World Health Organization (WHO) (2016) C_WHO

Recent efforts to fight malaria in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) have yielded impressive results. According to the latest WHO estimates, the six GMS countries cut their malaria case incidence by an estimated 54% between 2012 and 2015. Malaria death rates fell by 84% over the same period.
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Country cooperation strategy for WHO and Syrian Arab Republic: 2022-2025

World Health Organization WHO (2024) C_WHO

WHO’s Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS) defines the Organization’s medium-term vision for working in and with a particular country. The CCS, developed in the context of global and national health priorities, examines the overall health situation in a country, including the state of the health s... more

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WHO list of priority medical devices for cancer management

World Health Organization WHO (2017) C_WHO

This publication is based on the list of clinical interventions selected from clinical guidelines on prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, palliative care, monitoring and end of life care. This publication addresses medical devices for six types of cancer: breast, cervical, colorectal, leukem... more

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Policies to protect children from the harmful impact of food marketing: WHO guideline

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2023) C_WHO

Children continue to be exposed to powerful food marketing, which predominantly promotes foods high in saturated fatty acids, trans-fatty acids, free sugars and/or sodium and uses a wide variety of marketing strategies that are likely to appeal to children. Food marketing has a harmful impact on chi... more

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Network of WHO Collaborating centers for trachoma

World Health Organization WHO (2016) C_WHO

International commitment to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem worldwide is supported by resolution WHA51.11 of the World Health Assembly .1 Important progress towards this goal has been made by harnessing the mostly informal relationships that exist between partners including Member Stat... more

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Crisis Emergency Risk Communication. Manual
recommended

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; US Dept. of Health and Human Services (2014) CC

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Trends in maternal mortality 2000 to 2020: estimates by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and UNDESA/Population Division

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2023) C_WHO

Every day in 2020, approximately 800 women died from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth - meaning that a woman dies around every two minutes. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 3.1 is to reduce maternal mortality to less than 70 maternal deaths per 100 000 live births by ... more

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A Tripartite Zoonosis Guide (TZG)

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO; World Health Organization (WHO), et al. (2019) C_WHO

Taking a multisectoral, One Health approach is necessary to address complex health threats at the human-animal-environment interface, such as rabies, zoonotic influenza, anthrax, and Rift Valley fever. Such zoonotic diseases continue to have major impacts on health, livelihoods, and economies, and c... more

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Guidance on Law and Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies IFRC (2023) CC

The domestic regulation of public health emergencies (PHEs) is inextricably linked to the regulation of other types of disaster. PHEs are usually governed at least partly by general disaster and emergency laws. Moreover, there is significant overlap in the legal mechanisms used to respond to PHEs an... more

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The state of the world's children 2013: Children with Disabilities

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) (2013)

The State of the World’s Children 2013: Children with Disabilities examines the barriers – from inaccessible buildings to dismissive attitudes, from invisibility in official statistics to vicious discrimination – that deprive children with disabilities of their rights and keep them from partic... more

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Guidance on Racism and Xenophobia: How UNHCR can address and respond to situations of racism and xenophobia affecting persons under its mandate

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR (2023) CC

States have committed and assumed obligations to address multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination against refugees, internally displaced persons, asylum seekers, returnees and stateless persons. The Global Compact on Refugees places ending discrimination of any kind based on the grounds of ... more

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Rapid Evaluation of the Medicines Registration System in Benin

Diadié Maïga, Bedel Evi, Angélique Gbaguidi USAID, SIAPS (2016) C_WHO

The primary role of Benin’s Department of Pharmacy and Medicines (DPMED) is to develop and apply the national pharmaceutical policy. The main objective of this policy is to ensure the availability and accessibility of quality medicines for the population. To fulfill its mandate, DPMED aims to stre... more

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Tanzania: The National Action Plan on AMR 2017-2022

The United Republic of Tanzania - Ministry of Health Community Development Gender Elderly and Children World Health Organization WHO (2017) C_WHO

This National Action Plan addresses actions needed to be taken in order to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the country. It is obligatory to raise awareness of antimicrobial resistance and promote behavioral change through public communication programmes that targets human, animal and plant... more

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Rehabilitation in Health Systems

World Health Organization (WHO) (2017) C_WHO

Rehabilitation in health systems provides recommendations for Member States and other relevant stakeholders to strengthen and expand the availability of quality rehabilitation services. Currently, there is a significant unmet need for rehabilitation services and it is frequently undervalued in the h... more

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National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance/Afghanistan

Ministry of Public Health, Afghanistan Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO (2017) C2

AMR is one of the Key priority of the global health security agenda action package, as well as it is one of the commitments of Ministry of Public Health Afghanistan to combat AMR. In Afghanistan because of war and some other political issues the borders of the country are not well secured and well c... more

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WHO Special Initiative for Mental Health

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2023) C_WHO

WHOs Special Initiative for Mental Health has supported the availability of mental health services for more than 40 million more people. Learn about WHOs Special Initiative for Mental Health, which seeks to increase access to quality and affordable care for mental health conditions in 12 countries ... more

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Road Map for Accelerating the reduction of Maternal and Neonatal Morbidity and Mortality in Malawi

Republic of Malawi, Ministry of Health (2012) C2

The Road Map outlines various strategies which will guide policy makers, development partners, training institutions and service providers in supporting Government efforts towards the attainment of MDGs related to maternal and neonatal health.

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Quality of care in fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable settings: taking action

World Health Organization WHO (2020) CC

In fragile, conflict-affected and vulnerable settings, delivery of quality health services faces significant challenges, including disruption of a routine health service organization and delivery systems, increased health needs, complex and unpredictable resourcing issues, and vulnerability to multi... more

Crisis Emergency Risk Communication. Manual recommended

Crisis Emergency Risk Communication. Manual
recommended