the aid library

WHO African Region Health Expenditure Atlas 2023

WHO African Region (2024) CC

Over the past decade, countries in the African region experienced slow progress in mobilizing resources for health while facing continued challenges. In their revised estimates published in 2017, Stenberg et al., developed two costs scenarios, termed progress and ambitious, aimed at strengthening co ... more

Tomorrow’s Global Development Landscape: Mapping Trends and Reform Dynamics

Janus H., Keijzer N., Koch S. German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) (2024) CC

The key tools and governance approaches for international cooperation for sustainable development (hereafter, international cooperation) were set up in a markedly different time and age. International cooperation – with official development assistance (ODA) as the dominant means of implementa ... more

Development Finance at a Turning Point: Effects and Policy Recommendations

Berensmann K., Laudage Teles S., Sommer C., et al. German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS) (2023) CC

Development finance is at a turning point, as the macroeconomic environment has changed profoundly and the financing gap for low- and middle-income countries has widened. The events that led to this new situation are the multiple crises that the global economy is facing, such as the climate crisis, ... more

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

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 underfunding, and recent reductions in official development assistance have been registered. To create fiscal ... more

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 and child health, there is a lack of comprehensive analysis of DAH trends, strategic shifts and the ... more

Health Taxes: A Compelling Policy for the Crises of Today

The Task Force on Fiscal Policy for Health Report 2024 Bloomberg (2024) CC

For this report, the Task Force commissioned additional background papers on health taxes to update the evidence, assess short-term revenue potential, and understand the role of health taxes in the current era of multiple crises. We find that health taxes continue to be underutilized despite th ... more

Financing the Pandemic Cycle: Prevention, Preparedness, Response, and Recovery and Reconstruction

Fan V. Y., Kim S., Pineda D., et al. Center for Global Development (2024) CC

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed critical gaps in the global response to health crises, particularly in the financing of pandemic prevention, preparedness, response, recovery, and reconstruction. This chapter presents a comprehensive framework for pandemic financing that spans the entire pandemic cycle ... more

WHO guidelines on meningitis diagnosis, treatment and care
recommended

World Health Organization WHO (2025) C_WHO

The guidelines are primarily intended for health-care professionals working in first- or second-level health-care facilities, including emergency, inpatient and outpatient services. They are also directed at policy-makers, health-care planners and programme managers, academic institutions, non-gover ... more

WHO guideline on preventing early pregnancy and poor reproductive outcomes among adolescents in low- and middle-income countries
recommended

World Health Organization WHO (2025) CC

The objectives of this guideline are the same as those of the 2011 edition, namely to provide evidence-based normative guidance on interventions to improve adolescent morbidity and mortality by reducing the chances of early pregnancy and its resulting poor health outcomes. The specific objectives of ... more

Factors associated with the unsuccessful TB treatment outcomes in the northern regions of Namibia: a mixed methods study

Amkongo, M.; Mitonga, H. K.; Alfeus, A.; et al. (2023) CC2

BMC Infectious Diseases volume 23, Article number: 342 (2023). Tuberculosis (TB) is among the leading causes of death globally. The disease has a huge burden in Namibia, with a case notification rate of at least 442 per 100,000. To date, Namibia is among the countries with the highest global TB bur ... more

Consequences of the US budget cuts and the dissolution of USAID: An analysis and recommendations for action for stakeholders in international development cooperation

Liebau L., Rüppel T., Schottmayer K. medmissio (2025) CC

This publication provides a problem analysis of the U.S. cuts in global health and derives concrete recommendations for action for medical actors. The focus is on analyzing the direct effects on health-specific development cooperation.

Clinical management and infection prevention and control for mpox: living guideline, May 2025

World Health Organization WHO (2025) C_WHO

This document is for public health specialists, health emergency responders, clinicians, health facility managers, health and care workers and IPC practitioners including but not limited to those working in primary care clinics, sexual health clinics, emergency departments, dental practices, infecti ... more

Drugs for Intermittent Preventive Treatment of Malaria in Pregnancy: Current Knowledge and Way Forward

Figueroa-Romero, A.; C. Pons-Duran, and R. Gonzalez (2022) CC

Trop. Med. Infect. Dis. 2022, 7, 152. https://doi.org/10.3390/tropicalmed7080152

Promoting Quality Malaria Medicines through Social and Behavior Change Communication: An Implementation Kit

Health Communication Capacity Collaborative HC3; USAID (2016) C1

This Implementation Kit (I-Kit), developed by the Health Communication Capacity Collaborative (HC3), helps national and local stakeholders to design country-specific social and behavioural change communication (SBCC) campaigns that address the threat posed by substandard, spurious, falsified and fal ... more

WHO guidelines for malaria - arabic version

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2024) C_WHO

The WHO guidelines for malaria bring together the Organization’s most up-to-date recommendations for malaria in one user-friendly and easy-to-navigate online platform. The WHO guidelines for malaria bring together the Organization’s most up-to-date recommendations for malaria in one user-frie ... more

Regional stakeholder meeting on the response to antimalarial drug resistance in Africa

World Health Organization WHO (2024) C_WHO

Meeting report, Kampala, Uganda, 7–8 November 2023

Surveillance and control of Anopheles stephensi: country experiences

World Health Organization WHO (2024) C_WHO

Anopheles stephensi is an invasive mosquito species which has been found spreading across Africa. While this species presents a new challenge for malaria control on the continent, its surveillance and management have been ongoing in Asia for many years. This document aims to summarize key lessons fr ... more