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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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Compendium of forgotten foods in Africa: A companion publication for Integrating Africa’s forgotten foods for better nutrition
recommended

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO (2024) CC

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has launched a new Compendium of forgotten foods in Africa which is a first-of-its-kind comprehensive collection of 100 African forgotten food crops. Also referred to as neglected, underutilized or orphan crops, these species offer valua... more

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Influencing food environments for healthy diets

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO (2016) C2

Food environments are usually defined as the settings with all the different types of food made available and accessible to people as they go about their daily lives. That is, the range of food in supermarkets, small retail outlets, wet markets, street food stalls, coffee shops, tea houses, s...chool canteens, restaurants, and all the other venues where people buy and eat food. These environments differ enormously depending on the context. They can be extensive and diverse, with a seemingly endless array of options and price ranges, or they can be sparse, with very few options on offer. Because they determine what food consumers can access at a given moment in time, at what price, and with what degree of convenience, food environments both constrain and prompt the consumer’s choice.Food environments are influenced by the food systems which supply them, and vice versa. Food systems encompass the entire range of activities, people and institutions involved in the production, processing, marketing, consumption and disposal of food (FAO, 2013). They include but are not limited to food supply chains. Making food systems nutrition-sensitive can contribute to addressing all forms of malnutrition, as food systems determine whether the food needed for good nutrition are available, affordable, acceptable and of adequate quantity and quality. How closely food systems and food environments are interrelated and interdependent, and the degree to which external factors affect nutrition outcomes, varies from setting to setting.Many of today’s food systems and food environments are challenged in supporting consumer choices that are consistent with healthy diets and good nutrition. Consumers are not making choices based on nutrition and health, and poor diet is now the number one risk factor for death and disability worldwide (GBD, 2015). Food systems that do not enable healthy diets are increasingly recognized as an underlying cause of malnutrition (GLOPAN, 2016), and malnutrition, irrespective of form, has a huge cost. Economic costs associated with undernutrition are estimated at $1-2 trillion per year, about 2-3% of global GDP (FAO, 2013); the global economic cost of obesity and associated diet-related non-communicable diseases is estimated at $2 trillion per year, about 2.8% of global GDP (McKinsey, 2014). Influencing food environments for promoting healthy diets is an emerging strategy to address today’s nutrition challenges. more

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Ending disease in Africa: vision, strategies and special initiatives, 2023-2030

World Health Organisation (WHO) (2023) C_WHO

While there has been real progress in addressing the burden of disease in the WHO African region, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the link between health, economics and security, as the region saw decades of progress threatened, including positive trends in decreasing inequality. In the Africa... more

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National Strategic Plan for Malaria Elimination in Bangladesh: 2021-2025

National Malaria Elimination Programme - Directorate General of Health Services Ministry of Health & Family Welfare - Government of Bangladesh (2021) C2

The National Strategic Plan for Malaria Elimination 2021–2025 outlines Bangladesh’s roadmap to achieve zero indigenous malaria cases by 2030, with an interim goal to reduce transmission to near-zero levels by 2025. The strategy builds upon earlier successes in malaria control and shifts focus to... more

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World Health Organization (WHO) - Assessed contributions payable by Member States and Associate Members 2022-2023

World Health Organization (WHO) World Health Organization (WHO) (2022) CC

World Health Organization (WHO) - Assessed contributions payable by Member States and Associate Members 2022-2023

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UNAIDS - Total contributions 2021 (in US dollars)

Joint United Nations Programme on HIVAIDS (UNAIDS) Joint United Nations Programme on HIVAIDS (UNAIDS) (2022) CC

UNAIDS Total Contributions by donor - details of revenue including core, supplemental and XB for 2021

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World Health Organization - Assessed contributions overview for all Member States As at 31 December 2021

World Health Organization (WHO) World Health Organization (WHO) (2021) CC

Overview on the assessed contributions for all World Health Organization Member States As at 31 December 2021.

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In Control. A Practical Handbook for Professionals Working in Health Emergencies Internationally
recommended

Germany’s National Public Health Institute (RKI), et al. (2021) C1

In Control imparts knowledge, provokes reflection and triggers curiosity. The first half of the book provides an overview of the organisations, principles, frameworks and themes that every professional deploying to health emergencies should be aware of. The second half of the book provides practical... more

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Caring for women subjected to violence: a WHO curriculum for training health-care providers, revised edition 2021

World Health Organization WHO (2021) C_WHO

WHO is launching a “Revised edition, 2021” for the Caring for women subjected to violence: A WHO training curriculum for health-care providers today. The revised edition includes 4 new modules three of which are for health managers to assess and strengthen health facility readiness and one modul... more

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World Development Indicators. Highlights: Featuring the Sustainable Development Goals 2016

World Bank Group (2016) CC

Extraced from the full version of WDI 2016

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Comprehensive mental health action plan 2013–2020
recommended

World Health Organization WHO (2021) C_WHO

This updated Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2030 builds upon its predecessor and sets out clear actions for Member States, the WHO Secretariat and international, regional and national partners to promote mental health and well-being for all, to prevent mental health conditions for thos... more

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Ethics in epidemics, emergencies and disasters: research, surveillance and patient care: training manual

World Health Organization (WHO) (2015) C_WHO

Responses to epidemics, emergencies and disasters raise many ethical issues for the people involved, including public health specialists and policy makers. This training manual provides material on ethical issues in research, surveillance and patient care in these difficult contexts.

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Accountability for women’s and children’s health

Flavia Bustreo, Marie-Paule Kieny, Lale Say et al. World Health Organization WHO (2015) C_WHO

Progress Report

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Is Every Child Counted? Status of data for children in the SDGs

Rada Noeva, Nassim Benali, Emily Garin et al. UNICEF (2017)

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Public Health in Medical Curriculum - Student's Toolkit

International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA) (2018) C2

For those passionate about advancing public health education in their medical schools

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Rapport de situation mondial sur les services WASH dans les établissements de santé: les impératifs premiers

Organisation Mondiale de la Sante, Unicef WHO (2021) C_WHO

Ce rapport identifie les principales lacunes mondiales dans les services WASH : un tiers des établissements de santé ne dispose pas des installations de lavage des mains nécessaires sur les lieux de soins ; un établissement sur quatre n’a pas de services de base pour l’approvisionnement en e... more

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Levels and Trends in Child Mortality 2021

United Nations Inter-Agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME) (2021) C1

While the world was gripped by the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, children continued to face the same crisis they have for decades: intolerably high mortality rates and vastly inequitable chances at life. In total, more than 5.0 million children under age 5, including 2.4 million newborns, alo... more

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World Alzheimer Report 2019

Prince, M., and J. Jackson Alzheimer's Disease International (2019) C2

Some of the key findings of the report include: Almost 80% of the general public are concerned about developing dementia at some point and 1 in 4 people think that there is nothing we can do to prevent dementia 35% of carers across the world said that they have hidden the diagnosis of de... more

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Drawing light from the pandemic: A new strategy for health and sustainable development

World Health Organization WHO, Regional Office of Europe (2021) C_WHO

Drawing light from the pandemic: A new strategy for health and sustainable development (2021) Available in English, French, German and Russian

Compendium of forgotten foods in Africa: A companion publication for Integrating Africa’s forgotten foods for better nutrition recommended

In Control. A Practical Handbook for Professionals Working in Health Emergencies Internationally recommended

Comprehensive mental health action plan 2013–2020 recommended

Compendium of forgotten foods in Africa: A companion publication for Integrating Africa’s forgotten foods for better nutrition
recommended

In Control. A Practical Handbook for Professionals Working in Health Emergencies Internationally
recommended

Comprehensive mental health action plan 2013–2020
recommended