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Accelerating Change: UNFPA Response to Eliminate Cross-Border Female Genital Mutilation in East and Southern Africa

UNFPA ESARO UNFPA; UNICEF (2022) CC

This report provides insight into the work that UNFPA has been doing to tackle FGM across borders in these border areas, where country offices are implementing a wide range of initiatives to address the issue. The information provided in this report is structured into four pillars, namely those list ... more

The impact of Covid-19 on HIV, TB and Malaria Services and Systems for Health: a Snapshot from 502 health facilities across Africa and Asia

The Global Fund (2021) CC

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the world beyond imagination. To date, it has infected more than 135 million people, killed over 2.9 million people, and is projected to plunge up to 115 million people into extreme poverty.1 As countries have gone into lockdown, gender-based violence has incr ... more

Survey of the Quality of Selected Antimalarial Medicines Circulating in Six Countries of Sub-Saharan Africa
recommended

World Health Organization WHO (2011) C_WHO

The survey aimed at evaluating the quality of selected antimalarials in six countries of sub-Saharan Africa (Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and the United Republic of Tanzania). These countries have been support ... more

Report on the RIASCO Action Plan for the El Niño-induced drought in Southern Africa 2016/2017

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Regional Interagency Standing Committee, Southern Africa (2017) C1

Assessing and enhancing sustainable voluntary medical male circumcision services for HIV prevention in East and Southern Africa

World Health Organization WHO; UNAIDS (2023) C_WHO

a landscape report of voluntary medical male circumcision priority countries. This report provides the findings from the baseline implementation of these tools in 15 VMMC priority countries in 2021. It is intended for VMMC national programme leaders and implementing and global partners. Its goals a ... more

Voluntary non-remunerated blood donations to ensure blood safety in the WHO South-East Asia Region to support universal health coverage

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2023) C_WHO

Access to safe blood and blood products is recognized as one of the key requirements for delivery of modern health care in the journey towards health for all. The foundation of safe and sustainable blood supplies depends on the collection of blood from voluntary non-remunerated and low-risk donors. ... more

Impact of community-led and community-based HIV service delivery beyond HIV: case studies from eastern and southern Africa

UNAIDS (2025) C1

The objectives of the research presented in this report were to identify case studies of community-led HIV-related health and social inclusion service delivery organizations in eastern and southern Africa; describe the typologies of the services pro ... more

Training community healthcare workers on the use of information and communication technologies: a randomised controlled trial of traditional versus blended learning in Malawi, Africa

Nikolaos Mastellos, Tammy Tran, Kanika Dharmayat et al. BMC Medical Education (2018) CC

Despite the increasing uptake of information and communication technologies (ICT) within healthcare services across developing countries, community healthcare workers (CHWs) have limited knowledge to fully utilise computerised clinical systems and mobile apps. The ‘Introduction to Information and ... more

OCHA Policy Brief on Gendered Drivers, Risks and Impacts of Food Insecurity in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (2023) CC

It is widely understood that the food insecurity crisis in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa is one of the world’s fastest growing and most neglected crises. It lacks sufficient global focus, resources and urgency. As in so many crises, women and g ... irls are disproportionately affected and shoulder the consequences of protracted neglect, with unconscionable impacts on their safety, life chances and agency. Gaining a holistic view of the gendered drivers, risks and impacts of food insecurity in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa is difficult. This is due to a lack of data and prioritization, and the large geographical and socioeconomic terrain covered by both regions. However, what we do know about this crisis is more than enough to urgently address the needs of women and girls. An OCHA discussion paper on this topic (which will be published imminently, and from which this policy brief is drawn) found that there is: A strong risk of profound regression in gender equality gains made to date in the countries of concern, including on education, sexual and reproductive health, and the economic independence of women and girls (with knock-on effects on broader humanitarian and development outcomes). An increasing challenge to reverse what must be recognized as a protracted and growing gender-based violence (GBV) emergency in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. The food insecurity crisis in the Sahel and the Horn of Africa is protracted, multidimensional and highly gendered, with spiralling impacts on gender equality and food security outcomes. It is driven by interwoven and overlapping factors, including climate change, political instability, conflict, socioeconomic conditions, migration and displacement and, more recently, COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. Interlinked with these factors are gendered structural drivers of food insecurity, including deeply entrenched gender inequalities and harmful social norms. Gendered risks and impacts of food insecurity include alarming limitations on access to education, sexual and reproductive health rights, women’s agency and participation, and dramatic increases in different existing forms of GBV and the emergence of new ones. Recognition of such gendered dimensions of food insecurity and of the need for a multisectoral approach in the response is key to addressing the crisis, along-side sustained commitment and adequate allocation of resources. This policy brief draws out key findings from the OCHA discussion paper on this topic, which includes a desk review of studies, assessments and reports, and interviews with local women’s organizations on the front lines of the food insecurity crisis in communities across both regions. Below are the most pressing gendered drivers, risks and impacts of food insecurity (not in order of priority), as well as key gaps in the current humanitarian response to food insecurity, and recommendations to take forward. more

Africa’s digital solutions to tackle COVID-19

European Investment Bank EIB and UN Development Programme UNDP (2020) CC

It highlights how proven digital innovation can be replicated to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Africa. It also estimates investment required to implement such high impact solutions.

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 o ... n 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

Pastoral care as a resource for development in the global healthcare context: Implications for Africa’s healthcare delivery system

Agbiji E., Agbiji O.M. AOSIS (2016) C1

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies ISSN: (Online) 2072-8050, (Print) 0259-9422

Return of the Rebel: Legacies of War and Reconstruction in West Africa’s Ebola Epidemic

Lind, J. and Ndebe, J. IDS (2015)

Practice Paper in Brief 19

Nursing Education and Training Standards

South African Nursing Council (2020) CC

Competencies for critical care nurse specialist (Adult)

South African Nursing Council (2020) CC

The relationship between the scopes of practice, practice standards and competencies

South African Nursing Council (2020) CC

Let our Actions Count. Reflections on NSP 2012-2016 and moving forward to NSP 2017-2022

South African National AIDS Council (2017) C1

HIV AIDS and Human Rights

South African Human Rights Commission (2021) CC

Educational Booklet

Statement on the Efficacy of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) against the SARS-CoV-2 Variants
recommended

African Union; Africa CDC Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (2021) C1

On the 9 February 2021, Africa CDC convened a special session of the Africa Task Force for COVID-19 to review existing data and evidence and recommend