From Kigali to Lusaka and then Durban, Africa’s flagship public health conference has travelled across the continent. This month, the conversation moves to Addis Ababa, with a bigger question on the table: how can Africa take greater control of its health future?
Co-hosted by the Government of Ethiopia and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the fifth International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA) will run from 23 to 27 November 2026. Organisers are preparing for more than 30,000 participants attending in person and virtually.
Thousands of scientists, policymakers, health professionals and innovators will bring with them experiences from some of the most consequential years in African public health.
The continent is managing recurrent outbreaks while confronting persistent shortages of health workers, pressure on health financing and continued dependence on imported medicines, vaccines and diagnostics. At the same time, African countries are investing in pharmaceutical manufacturing, digital health, stronger public health institutions and new approaches to financing their health systems.
Some of that capacity is already taking shape.
Through the Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative, Africa CDC has helped expand the continent’s ability to detect and track disease threats. It has also established fellowship and training programmes to develop the next generation of African epidemiologists, laboratory scientists, public health leaders and other specialists.
That investment is increasingly being tested in real emergencies. Africa CDC has co-led responses to major outbreaks, including mpox and Ebola, bringing countries and partners around common response efforts. Through the African Health Volunteers Corps (AVoHC), it is also building a roster of trained personnel who can be rapidly deployed when Member States face public health emergencies.
These developments point to a broader shift: from relying principally on external expertise and systems during crises towards building African institutions, expertise and response capacity that are available before an emergency begins.
That shift sits behind the theme of CPHIA 2026: “Africa’s Health Security and Sovereignty: Transformation from health dependency and vulnerability to ownership and resilience.”
For Africa CDC Director General Dr Jean Kaseya, the conference is part of a wider change in how the continent approaches public health.
“Africa is defining the public health future it wants and building the institutions, knowledge and capabilities to deliver it. CPHIA 2026 is where we bring that ambition together,” he says.
CPHIA is relatively young, but its journey reflects something of the changing African health landscape.
The first conference was held virtually in 2021, when COVID-19 was still limiting international travel and exposing Africa’s dependence on global supply chains.
A year later, Kigali, Rwanda, hosted the first in-person CPHIA. Some 2,800 scientists, policymakers and advocates gathered there, with thousands more following online. The meeting took place as countries were emerging from the acute phase of the pandemic and examining what COVID-19 had revealed about the continent’s health systems.
In 2023, CPHIA moved south to Lusaka, Zambia. More than 5,000 participants attended in person and some 30,000 joined online. The next edition was scheduled for Morocco in 2024, which would have taken CPHIA to North Africa for the first time. It was postponed as Africa CDC redirected attention and resources towards the continent-wide mpox emergency.
CPHIA returned in 2025 in Durban, South Africa, where the fourth edition produced the “Durban Promise”. Its commitments spanned domestic health financing, primary healthcare, local manufacturing, governance and greater African control over the systems needed to protect public health.
Now it is Addis Ababa’s turn.
The location carries practical significance and strong symbolism.
Addis Ababa has been a centre of African diplomacy for more than six decades. Home to the African Union, Africa CDC and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, as well as one of the continent’s largest diplomatic communities, the city places CPHIA close to institutions shaping health policy and wider continental cooperation.
Ethiopia also brings its own experience of building public health capacity while responding to outbreaks and other emergencies across a large and diverse population.
CPHIA 2026 arrives at a point when the discussion is moving beyond emergency response.
COVID-19 demonstrated what can happen when countries urgently need vaccines, medicines and other health products but do not control their supply. Subsequent outbreaks have reinforced the importance of surveillance, laboratories, trained health workers and national institutions able to act quickly.
The question now is how those lessons translate into lasting capacity.
That includes producing more health products in Africa. Local manufacturing depends on predictable demand and functioning markets. Countries need effective regulators and procurement systems. Health services need reliable supply chains, while governments need sustainable ways of paying for them.
The same principle applies to technology. Digital health and artificial intelligence offer new possibilities for surveillance, diagnosis and health planning, while raising important questions about infrastructure, interoperability and African ownership and governance of health data.
These subjects can appear technical. Their effects are immediate and practical. They determine whether a nurse has the medicines needed to treat a patient, whether a laboratory can identify an unusual pathogen, and whether countries can obtain essential products when international supply chains are under pressure.
CPHIA has also become an important showcase for African research.
In Lusaka in 2023, 93% of the record 2,314 abstracts submitted came from researchers based in Africa. CPHIA 2026 is again bringing scientists, public health practitioners and implementers into its scientific programme to share research, innovations and experience.
Health sovereignty also depends on knowledge: who produces it, who sets research priorities and whose evidence informs health policy.
CPHIA brings together groups that do not always occupy the same room: political leaders and laboratory scientists, ministers and community health workers, manufacturers and regulators, technology companies and public health agencies.
The objective is to connect evidence with decisions, and ambition with the institutions capable of delivering it.
To encourage broader participation, Africa CDC has partnered with Ethiopian Airlines to offer a 20% discount on eligible air tickets for self-sponsored conference participants. The partnership aims to bring more African expertise, research and perspectives into the discussions, while demonstrating how African businesses can contribute to the continent’s public health ambitions.
For five days in November, Addis Ababa will bring together many of the people shaping Africa’s public health future. The discussions will focus on a central challenge: how to turn the continent’s growing expertise, institutions and ambitions into lasting control over the systems that protect people’s health.
