Publication date: 19 September 2024
- BACKGROUND
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is a specialized technical institution of the African Union that supports Member States in their efforts to strengthen their health systems. Africa CDC was officially launched in January 2017, and is guided by the principles of leadership, credibility, and ownership, and delegated authority, timely dissemination of information, transparency, accountability, and value addition. The institution works with all African countries to strengthen the capabilities of their public health institutions for disease surveillance, emergency response, prevention and control, including the capacity to detect and respond quickly and effectively to disease threats.
It also serves as a platform for Member States to share and exchange knowledge and lessons from public health interventions. Effective public health interventions/actions require an adequately staffed, highly skilled, diverse and interdisciplinary workforce. Given the diminishing ratio of the African Public health workforce to the dual burden of disease on the continent, there is a need to strengthen and build the capacity of the public health workforce in the continent to meet the current responsibilities.