Three agreements have been signed between the African Union and the European Commission to reinforce and strengthen Africa’s health systems, reports Health Policy Watch.
The first initiative supports the national public health institutes of 10 African countries to enhance disease surveillance, early warning systems, emergency response, research and laboratory services.
The second, announced at the One Health Summit in Lyon this month, will tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and involve the development of a workforce trained in a ‘One Health’ approach to detect and prevent health threats in humans, animals and the environment.
The third involves expanding digital health solutions for pandemic preparedness and stronger primary healthcare systems in six African countries.
The initiatives, worth €100m, were officially launched at the AU headquarters last week by Jozef Síkela, European Commissioner for International Partnerships, and Dr Jean Kaseya, director-general of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention – the operational partner for the initiatives.
Kaseya said the support will help the continent to achieve its Health Security and Sovereignty Agenda, “strengthening its capacity to build resilient health systems, improve preparedness, and reduce dependency by producing, financing and managing more of its own health priorities”.
Sikela said the EU and AU are also working on a global health resilience initiative, with the aim of launching it in May.
“This will be a powerful tool, bringing together research with medical technology and innovation programmes, knowledge transfer and systematic co-operation with regulatory agencies, health systems and highly skilled workforces,” he said.
“The aim is to equip and empower health systems worldwide so that they are in a better position to prevent and respond to future crises,” he concluded, adding that this includes European investment in the local manufacturing of vaccines and medicines “to avoid health dependency.”
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