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The cost of inaction on health equity and its social determinants

Yerramilli P., Chopra M., Rasanathan K. BMJ Global Health (2024) CC

Rising levels of inflation, debt and macrofiscal tightening are putting expenditures on the social sectors including health under immense scrutiny. Already, there are worrying signs of reductions in social sector investments. However, even before th ... more

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Profile: Namibia Mental Health Atlas 2020

World Health Organization WHO (2020) C_WHO

Mental Health Atlas 2020 Member State Profile Nambia Data Analytics

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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 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

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The nature and contribution of innovative health financing mechanisms in the World Health Organization African region: A scoping review

Nabyonga-Orem J., Christmals C.D., Addai K.F. et al. Journal of Global Health (2023) CC

Achieving financial risk protection for the whole population requires significant financing for health. Health systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) are plagued with persistent underfun ... more

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Evolution and effectiveness of bilateral and multilateral development assistance for health: a mixed-methods review of trends and strategic shifts (1990–2022)

Xie S., Du S., Huang Y., et al. BMJ Global Health (2025) CC

Development assistance for health (DAH) plays a vital role in supporting health programmes in lowand middle-income countries. While DAH has historically focused on infectious diseases and maternal ... more

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Conditioned Domestic “Co-financing” Policies in Global Health

Sparkes S., Yungrattanachai M., Fan V., et al. Center for Global Development (2024) CC

Conditioned domestic financing policy, referring to the domestic financing of health projects, programs, and national responses conditioned by global health funding agencies and recipient country go ... more

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Health Namibia Budget Brief

UNICEF (2022) C_UNICEF

Strengthening health financing to accelerate progress towards universal health coverage. Total Government Health Expenditure exceeds the commitmen ... more

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Cameroon: Breaking Barriers - Community Health Participatory Action (CoHPA) for prevention and control of malaria in conflict affected communities - a community dialogue approach

Ochieng; D.; and I. Ngoumou (2024) C1

Breaking Barriers is an implementation research project focusing on social and behavioural change. It is conducted in conflict-affected communities in Cameroon. The project explores three innovative, community-based interventions designed to improve health ... more

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Spotlight on the Global Mental Health Thematic Funding Pool 2024

United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF (2025) CC

Promoting and protecting the mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of children, adolescents, and their caregivers remains undamental to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a direct contribution to SDG 3 (Good ... more

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World Bank Group Approach and Action Plan for Climate Change and Health

World Bank Group (2017) C1

Climate change (CC) impacts on health outcomes, both direct and indirect, are sufficient to jeopardize achieving the World Bank Group’s visions and agendas in poverty reduction, population resilience, and ... more

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IRC Health Strategy 2023-2027

International Rescue Committee (2023) CC

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a leading humanitarian agency dedicated to helping people whose lives have been shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their future. Health comprises nearly half of IRC ... more

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Community health workers’ efforts to build health system trust in marginalised communities: a qualitative study from South Africa

Watkins, J:W.; F. Griffiths, and J. Goudge BMJ Open (2021) C1

Community health workers (CHWs) enable marginalised communities, often experiencing structural poverty, to access healthcare. Trust, important in all patient–provider relationships, is difficult to build in such communities, particularly when sti ... more

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Framework for the engagement of all health care providers in the management of drug resistant tuberculosis

World Health Organization (2015) C_WHO

The END TB strategy

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Developing and Strengthening Community Health Worker Programs at Scale, A Reference Guide for Program Managers and Policy Makers

USAID, MCHIP (2013) CC

Recently, a renewed interest in large-scale community health worker (CHW) programs has been seen globally. This renewal provides an opportune moment to take stock of issues and challenges such programs face and what can be done to make them as effec ... more

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Development of a checklist for implementing rural pathways to train and support health workers in low and middle income countries

O’Sullivan BG., Chater AB, Bingham A., et al. (2020) CC

This document presents an evidence-informed Checklist for implementing rural pathways to train and support the rural health workforce in low and middle income countries (LMIC). Rural areas are the most underserviced around the world.

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COP24 special report: health and climate change
recommended

World Health Organization WHO WHO (2018) C_WHO

Exposure to air pollution causes 7 million deaths worldwide every year and costs an estimated US$ 5.11 trillion in welfare losses globally. In the 15 countries that emit the most greenhouse gas emissions, the health impacts of air pollution are esti ... more

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Conflict Sensitivity & Public Health Emergencies: Practical Programming Adaptation During COVID-19 and Beyond

CDA Collaborative Learning Projects (2020) C1

Conflict, in its active or latent forms, is everywhere. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that public health emergencies can strike any country at any time. Given the universality of and interconnections between conflict, humanitarian crises, a ... more