Context
The Africa Health Strategy 2016 – 2030 envisions an integrated, inclusive and prosperous Africa, free from disease. The African Union (AU) has prioritised the building of an effective African-driven response to address these challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted the need for strong, effective and capable African institutions at all administrative levels.
Pandemics and public health challenges have a tremendous impact on realising Africa’s transformation goals. This is further exacerbated by challenges in leadership and governance, information, vaccines and technologies, health financing, access and service delivery.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has been at the forefront of Africa’s response to the threats of diseases and outbreaks. As witnessed with outbreaks such as Ebola, Lassa Fever and the COVID-19 pandemic, the Africa CDC has played an important role in ensuring effective continental approaches and responses to public health challenges since its inception.
Objective
The project has made the Africa CDC more resilient and better prepared for future health challenges.
Approach
The project supports Africa CDC and its regional collaborating centres (RCC) in Supporting public health initiatives of Member States and improving the ability of their public health institutions to detect, prevent, control and respond quickly and effectively to disease threats. The project enhances the work of the Africa CDC in two broad areas:
Improving organisational development and project management
Improving partnership management
The project supports the implementation of the AU COVID-19 Vaccination Bingwa Initiative which aims to increase vaccinations. It also serves as the internal coordination hub for all GIZ-funded projects with Africa CDC in various technical areas including vaccine manufacturing, the One Health approach and others.