The President of the Republic gives a presentation on the achievements of the Committee of Heads of State and Government of the African Center for Disease Control for the year 2024

In this brief presentation of the report, His Excellency the President of the Republic stressed that the past year witnessed major health crises, most notably the outbreak of monkeypox (MPOX), Marburg virus, and cholera, which were exacerbated by climate change and conflicts, stressing that the Africa Center for Disease Control played a vital role in dealing with these crises despite its excessive dependence on external funding, which represents 90% of its budget.

He stated that the African Center for Disease Control responded quickly in dealing with these crises by implementing appropriate measures for the public health emergency on the continent, and the organization did not delay when the monkeypox epidemic broke out in declaring it a “public health emergency for continental security (PHECS)”, and in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO), it coordinated the response and sent experts to the field, noting that thanks to these efforts, it obtained financial commitments of $ 1.1 billion and provided 1.7 million vaccine doses, enabling intervention in 29 affected or at-risk African countries.

In the field of combating other epidemics, the President of the Republic explained that the African Centre for Disease Control has also played a key role in this area, in Rwanda, its support in the field of treatments and vaccines has enabled the containment of the outbreak of the Marburg epidemic, limiting infections to 56 cases and deaths to 12 deaths, and in Tanzania, its intervention has enabled the promotion of vigilance and the detection of 53 suspected cases, moreover, the Center has also provided support to fifteen countries in the fight against cholera, by providing vaccines and strengthening systems The center has invested in strengthening health surveillance and epidemic response capabilities.

He added that the center has expanded the networks of laboratories capable of conducting genetic sequencing diagnosis from 7 countries in 2019 to 43 countries in 2024, and on top of that, the center established 23 public health emergency operations centers (PHEOC) with funding of $ 8 million, and the organization trained 303 epidemiologists, 195 health monitors, and 3576 community health workers, which significantly strengthened human capacities to face health crises.

Thanks to these decisive actions, the African Centre for Disease Control (ACDC) has continued to play a crucial role in protecting public health across the continent.

The other part of this report, presented by His Excellency the President of the Republic to the Summit, focused on strengthening Africa’s independence in the field of health, and in fact, the report on the local manufacturing of health products in Africa, highlights the transformation of the African Vaccine Manufacturing Partnership into a platform for harmonizing the manufacture of African health products. In 2024, the African Centre for Disease Control, in partnership with Afreximbank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), launched the African Procurement Pooling Mechanism (APPM), with the support of several partners. The mechanism aims to regulate an African health market and will be submitted for approval in 2025. A partnership was signed with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to benefit from its expertise in local manufacturing.

On June 20, 2024, the African Vaccine Accelerator (AVMA) was launched in Paris, with the aim of investing $1.2 billion over 10 years to support the African vaccine industry, with Afreximbank contributing $2 billion, with the goal of manufacturing 60% of the vaccines Africa needs by 2040, up from 1% currently, to ensure sustainable health security and equitable access to vaccines.