The African Health Volunteers Corps (AVoHC) is a network of African medical and public health professionals, established by the African Union to support the response to public health emergencies in Africa. AVoHC provides a mechanism for the rapid deployment of experts from African Union Member States, including, epidemiologists, laboratory scientists, communications professionals, logisticians, data managers, physicians, and social scientists. Deployments are coordinated by the Emergency Operations Centre of Africa CDC. AVoHC members receive special training and work with the country’s existing emergency response structures, with support from the Africa CDC Regional Collaborating Centres.
AVoHC was created by the Assembly of African Union Heads of State and Government during their 25th Ordinary Session in Johannesburg, South Africa, in June 2015. It was to build on the African Union’s response to the Ebola outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone in 2014/2015, where Member States contributed more than 800 doctors, nurses, paramedics, social scientists, and other professionals to the response.