Meeting in Addis Ababa, African health leaders and development partners endorsed a comprehensive regional agenda to accelerate the elimination of multiple diseases. The high-level session addressed persistent public health funding shortfalls and the urgent need for true continental health sovereignty.
Delegates representing the 47 Member States of the World Health Organization African Region gathered in Ethiopia for the 76th Session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa. Among them, an Angolan delegation led by Secretary of State for Public Health Carlos de Sousa participated in discussions addressing universal health coverage, emergency preparedness, and the resilience of domestic health systems, according to a press release sent to ANGOP.
The Addis Ababa Call to Action and Disease Elimination Progress
The ministerial side event resulted in the formal endorsement of the Addis Ababa Call to Action on Protecting and Accelerating Multi-Disease Elimination in Africa. The framework prioritizes domestic investment and integrated primary health care delivery over isolated, disease-specific interventions, the WHO Regional Office for Africa reported.
Health leaders pointed to substantial recent victories across the continent to justify renewed ambition. Leprosy is nearly eradicated as a public health threat, and 41 countries hold certification as free of Guinea worm disease. The year 2025 alone saw Burundi, Mauritania, and Senegal conquer trachoma, Niger become the first African nation to eliminate river blindness, and Guinea and Kenya eradicate sleeping sickness. In viral and maternal health, Botswana earned gold-tier status on the path to eliminating mother-to-child HIV transmission, while Cabo Verde, Mauritius, and Seychelles wiped out measles and rubella.
Despite these milestones, officials cautioned that systemic vulnerabilities—including weak diagnostic capacity, data management gaps, and regional insecurity—threaten to reverse hard-won gains if left unaddressed.
Sovereign Financing and the Continental Health Architecture
High-level speakers at the summit drew a sharp line between reliance on foreign aid and genuine continental self-determination. The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, joined Ethiopian President Taye Atske and WHO Director-General Tedros to argue that health security sits at the core of the continent’s long-term development framework, the African Union announced.
The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, underscored that Africa must progressively assume greater responsibility for the health of its people while building stronger global partnerships, emphasizing that partnership cannot substitute for ownership.
The Chairperson urged a definitive transition from commitments to implementation. He called for an integrated African health architecture driven by sustainable domestic financing, digital innovation, and local pharmaceutical manufacturing.
The History and Reality of Emergency Funding Mechanisms
Discussions in Addis Ababa also confronted the historical underperformance of continental emergency mechanisms. Established by the Regional Committee in 2012, the African Public Health Emergency Fund (APHEF) was designed to deliver catalytic resources for rapid responses to public health crises.
Between its inception and June 2016, however, only 13 countries had ever contributed to the fund, bringing total collections to just US$ 3,619,438—roughly 1.5 percent of expected targets, Reliefweb documented in historical evaluation data. During that same timeframe, the fund disbursed US$ 2.73 million across 13 countries to battle yellow fever in Angola, El Niño impacts in Ethiopia, and outbreaks of meningitis in Niger and Ebola across West Africa.
Only four recipient countries had ever contributed money back into the pool. Multidisciplinary experts convened by the WHO attributed the chronic funding deficit to dramatic variations in country contribution formulas and the limited involvement of the ministries of finance.
