We, the Committee of Heads of State and Government (CHSG) of the Africa CDC, meeting virtually on the margins of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 80):
CONSIDERING Assembly/AU/Dec.924 (XXXVIII) of February 2025, which recognized the pivotal role played by Africa CDC in safeguarding Africa’s public health by providing strategic direction, and support to Member States and reaffirmed its role as the Public Health agency of Africa, per its Statutes, and working in collaboration with the Commission, AUDA-NEPAD, AMA, AfCFTA and other AU Organs, in all public health aspects including those related to domestic and international health financing, local manufacturing of health commodities, African Pooled Procurement Mechanism(APPM), community engagement, digitization of health information systems, and various other innovations in health;
FURTHER CONSIDERING the successful completion of the United Kingdom’s Due Diligence Assessment and its decision to approve direct funding to Africa CDC, thereby acknowledging the comprehensive institutional reforms undertaken since 2023 to strengthen governance, accountability, and transparency, and reinforcing Africa CDC’s role as the continent’s recognized Public Health Agency;
WELCOMING voluntary contributions by Member States to Africa CDC while noting with concern the persistent financing gap undermining the full realization of Africa CDC’s mandate;
EXPRESSING CONCERN at the persisting and emerging health challenges, including recurrent outbreaks (Mpox, cholera, Marburg), the slow pace of domestic health financing, limited regulatory harmonization, the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and the complex nexus between climate change, conflict, and health;
ACKNOWLEDGING United States of America (USA) leadership in global health foreign assistance that has saved over 26 million lives in Africa and helped contain thousands of infectious disease outbreaks for global health security and thelaunch of the America First Global Health Strategy;
NOTING WITH CONCERN that putting the AU and all its Organs including Africa CDC on the prohibiting list carries serious diplomatic consequences;
RECALLING Assembly/AU/Dec.835 (XXXV) approving the framework and operationalization of the African Epidemics Fund (AfEF); Assembly/AU/Dec.924 (XXXVIII) mandating Africa CDC to mobilize resources to ensure sustainable, coordinated, and transparent responses to health emergencies; and Assembly/AU/Dec.924 (XXXVIII) congratulating Africa CDC, Afreximbank, and UNECA for their leadership in advancing local health manufacturing through the Platform for Harmonised African Health Manufacturing (PHAHM) and the effective operationalization of the APPM;
RECALLING ALSO Assembly/AU/Dec.3 (XXIX) of July 2017 on accelerating the implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005), the entry into force of the amended IHR (2005) on 19 September 2025, the conclusion of negotiations leading to the WHO Pandemic Agreement, and the ongoing negotiations of its Annex on Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS), and UNDERSCORING the importance of Africa speaking with one voice in global health fora;
RECALLING FURTHER the fragile state of health systems on the continent, the decline of Official Development Assistance (ODA), and the rising frequency of public health emergencies (Ebola, Marburg, Mpox, measles, dengue fever, Lassa fever, and others);
TAKING NOTE of Assembly/AU/Dec.924 (XXXVIII) directing Africa CDC to continue leading the Lusaka Agenda and to serve as its Secretariat, while supporting sustainable health financing programs, including increased domestic resource allocation;
HEREBY DECIDES AS FOLLOWS:
CONGRATULATES Africa CDC on the progress in implementing Assembly/AU/Dec.880 (XXXVII) on Africa Health Sovereignty and Sustainable Financing, including the development of “Rethinking Africa’s Health Financing in a New Era” and the establishment of an accountability framework for the effective implementation of the Lusaka Agenda to strengthen the role of Global Health Initiatives in advancing Universal Health Coverage in Africa.
APPLAUDS Africa CDC for successfully completing the Due Diligence Assessment by the United Kingdom, thereby enabling direct funding, and INVITES other bilateral and multilateral partners to adopt a similar approach.
ALSO APPLAUDS the United Kingdom for its leadership in channelling resources directly to Africa CDC, and CALLS UPON other partners to follow this example, thereby ensuring that funding is provided in a rapid, transparent, and accountable manner, directly benefiting African populations.
REQUESTS Africa CDC to conduct consultations and submit to the CHSG a list of former Heads of State who may be invited to support Africa CDC’s fundraising effort.
CONGRATULATES H.E. Hakainde Hichilema, President of the Republic of Zambia and AU Cholera Champion, for convening the Emergency High-Level Meeting of 4 June 2025 and for launching, together with Africa CDC and WHO, the Continental Cholera Preparedness and Response Plan in Lusaka, Zambia, on 26 August 2025.
CALLS UPON bilateral and multilateral partners, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), and global health institutions to align their support with the Continental Cholera Plan and to strengthen coordination under the joint leadership of Africa CDC and WHO, to avoid fragmentation and duplication of efforts.
FURTHER CONGRATULATES H.E. John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana and Member of the CHSG, for his leadership on Africa’s Health Sovereignty agenda, complementing the efforts of H.E. Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda and AU Champion on Domestic Financing.
REQUESTS Africa CDC to host the Africa Health Sovereignty Initiative led by H.E. John Dramani Mahama, and to report to the AU Assembly on progress made.
URGES AU Member States and partners to fully implement the resolutions of the AU Assembly, including those adopted at the Africa Health Sovereignty high level meeting held in Accra, Ghana, in August 2025, and to increase domestic and innovative financing in line with the “Africa Health Financing in a New Era” framework.
CALLS UPON the USA to remove AU and all its Organs including Africa CDC from the prohibiting list and to promote collaboration through regional/continental entities to better support the bilateral aspect of the America First Global Health Strategy.
SUPPORTS Africa CDC’s efforts to respond to all outbreaks, scale up the APPM, intensify local manufacturing of medical countermeasures, and CALLS FOR the accelerated operationalization of the African Medicines Agency (AMA) to strengthen regulatory harmonization.
SUPPORTS FURTHER Africa CDC’s efforts to advocate for replenishments of Gavi, the Global Fund, and the Pandemic Fund, and REQUESTS Africa CDC to continue leading unified African positions in global health processes.
