Date of Publication: 02 September 2024
(CONSULTING SERVICES– INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANTS)
AFRICA CENTRES FOR DISEASE CONTROL SUPPORT PROGRAM TO COMBAT CURRENT AND FUTURE PUBLIC HEALTH THREATS PROJECT (P178633) – IDA-E1110
Reference number: ET-AUC-442629-CS-INDV
The African Union has received financing from the World Bank for the ” Africa Centres for Disease Control Support Program to Combat Current and Future Public Health Threats Project”.
Development Objective of the Project: Enhance the capacity of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) to support AU Member States (MS) in preventing, detecting, and responding to current and future public health threats.
- Background
The African Union, established as a unique Pan African continental body, is charged with spearheading Africa’s rapid integration and sustainable development by promoting unity, solidarity, cohesion and cooperation among the peoples of Africa and African States as well as developing a new partnership worldwide. Its Headquarters is located in Addis Ababa, capital city of Ethiopia.
Officially launched in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2017 as a specialized technical institution of the African Union, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is Africa’s first continent-wide public health agency. Africa CDC envisions a safer, healthier, integrated, and stronger Africa, where the Member States can effectively respond to outbreaks of infectious diseases and other public health threats. The agency’s mission is to strengthen the capabilities of Africa’s public health institutions and systems to detect and respond quickly and effectively to disease outbreaks and other health burdens through an integrated network of continent-wide surveillance, laboratory, disease control and prevention, preparedness and response, and research programs. To achieve its mission, the Africa CDC works in all geographic regions of the African continent and has instituted technical divisions to focus on five priority areas, namely Surveillance and -Disease Intelligence, Laboratory Systems and Networks, Disease Control and Prevention, Preparedness and Response, and Public Health Institutes and research.
To rejuvenate and catalyze the implementation of the Africa CDC mandate in the African Union Member States, the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005), 3rd Edition, the Africa Health Strategy 2016-2030, and to achieve the AU Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want, the Africa CDC launched a new public health order calling for all Member States and partners to support strengthening national public health institutes, workforce development, increasing domestic financing, expanding local manufacturing and forging respectful partnerships.
For a long time, public health emergencies have been declared at two levels: the global mechanism coordinated by WHO and the national mechanism coordinated by national authorities. Past experiences have shown that it takes considerable time for regional outbreaks, particularly those endemic in Africa, to rank as sufficiently severe to warrant a global health alert, consequently leading to unwarranted morbidity and mortality, which could be avoided with more immediate action. To effectively respond to emergencies of continental security, the Africa CDC requires a mechanism to activate its emergency response coordination to recruit response teams, procure, deploy, and manufacture medical products, including vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics, and other lifesaving commodities. In light of this, the African Union heads of state revised the Africa CDC statute in 2022 to expand its mandate to include the power and authority to declare regional or continental security public health emergencies.
The Africa CDC Director General has for the first time declared Mpox the first Public Health of Continental Security (PHECS) in the continent in response to the current Mpox crisis, which has resulted in an exponential increase in cases and spread to non-endemic African countries. This declaration was made using clear and pre-defined procedures that involve the consultation of multiple stakeholders and experts. Nevertheless, it is imperative to further improve the decision-making framework to ensure that the PHECS declaration system is in compliance with the standards for disease notification and interoperates with both global and national declaration mechanisms. These Terms of Reference outline the core activities and deliverables of this consultancy to support the development of the PHECS framework.