ABUJA- The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has called for stronger partnerships and sustainable domestic financing.
The Africa CDC also said community-centred approaches was part of its renewed efforts to strengthen Africa’s health systems and safeguard the continent against current and future health threats.
Prof. Yap Boum, Deputy Incident Manager, Incident Management Support Team, Africa CDC, disclosed this during a virtual press briefing on Thursday.
Boum said that communities must remain at the heart of public health transformation.
“Whatever you do for me, without me, is against me. That is why we put the community really at the centre of the way we transform public health on the continent,” he said.
He announced an expanded focus on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), beyond tackling recurrent outbreaks such as Mpox, cholera, measles, dengue, and Lassa fever.
“Through a new partnership with the Novo Nordisk Foundation, more than 2.5 million initiatives will boost surveillance across 10 African Union member-states.
“Community health workers will be trained in data collection and analysis to strengthen evidence-based response,” he said.
On sickle cell disease, Boun highlighted alarming statistics that every hour, 45 children in Africa are born with the disease, many of whom do not survive beyond their fifth birthday.
He said that the agency was integrating sickle cell care into primary health systems and expanding access to affordable medicines, in collaboration with Texas Children’s Hospital and Ghana,
According to him, the agency also reported ongoing challenges with cholera, with nearly 250,000 cases and 5,795 deaths so far in 2025.
He also cited the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with 48 confirmed cases and a fatality rate of 56 per cent.
“However, encouraging signs were reported in contact tracing, vaccination, and real-time digital surveillance.
“Over 2,000 people have been vaccinated against Ebola, and new dashboards are being deployed to track vaccination and outbreak responses,” he said.
He said that sustained political will, innovative financing, and stronger solidarity among African Union member-states and partners were crucial to achieving Africa’s health sovereignty.
“Leaders of the AU, chaired by the President of Angola, have reaffirmed their support for Africa CDC as the continent’s public health agency.
“This partnership is really a milestone for Africa’s health sovereignty and the new public health order,” he said.(NAN)
