Stories of Impact

Highlighting how collaborative public health action strengthens Africa’s resilience and saves lives across the continent.

New Public Health Order
Africa CDC and Kenya Agree to Strengthen Strategic Partnership on the New Public Health Order

Kenya’s Ministry of Health and the Africa CDC Eastern Africa Regional Coordinating Centre (EARCC) have agreed to expedite the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) within the next two months. Priority actions include finalising the MoU, developing a joint workplan and performance framework, operationalising the Public Health Emergency ...

Public Health Emergency of Continental Security (PHECS)
Mpox Spurs Scientific Revival of Traditional African Medicine

For centuries, African communities have turned to traditional medicine to treat everything from fevers to infections. Yet, despite serving as the first line of health care for millions, these remedies rarely make it into formal medical systems. Lacking standardised processes, clinical trials, ...

Emergency Response and Preparedness
Health Emergency Leaders Network for Africa and Eastern Mediterranean Launched

Africa and Eastern Mediterranean regions’ top health leaders have joined forces to provide resources and expertise to improve health emergency response. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), together with the Kingdom of Morocco, launched the Health Emergency Leaders ...

Public Health Emergency of Continental Security (PHECS)
New Mpox Vaccine Study to Launch in DRC

Amid the ongoing mpox outbreak, new research is due to launch in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to provide important real-world data on the performance of the LC16m8 mpox vaccine in African populations. LC16m8 — a third-generation smallpox vaccine that is also used for mpox ...

New Public Health Order
Successful Due Diligence Assessment Opens Door for UK’s Direct Funding

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is now eligible for direct funding from the United Kingdom, following nearly one year of rigorous due diligence assessment. “We warmly welcome the United Kingdom’s decision as a trusted and longstanding partner of Africa. ...

Community Health Programs
Community Partnership in Health Response Cemented

At sunrise in Luweero District in Uganda, Israel Katumba, a Community Health Extension Worker, sets off on his bicycle. He carries a blood pressure machine, referral forms, and a tablet that links him to the Ministry of Health’s electronic reporting system. For the families ...

Community Health Programs
Turning Data into Domestic Investment for Africa’s Community Health Workforce

Africa now knows its community health workforce better than before. There are approximately seven community health workers per 10,000 people — equivalent to one community health worker for every 1,235 individuals. Around 80% of countries surveyed have a national community ...

Africa CDC Bingwa Plus Initiative
Getting Youth a Space at the Table in Global Health Governance

A few students at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in March 2020 pitched the idea of the International Working Group for Health System Strengthening (IWGHSS) as part of a competition.Their idea was chosen as the best in the competition, and later, connections ...

Laboratory Systems and Networks
The Road to Secure Biological Sample Transportation in Central Africa

When COVID-19 hit the Central African Republic in 2020, the state’s ability to deliver essential services was limited. Much of the Central African Republic was, and still is, highly inaccessible. Physical access to health facilities was constrained by the lack of roads — whether dirt or paved. Access ...

Medical Supplies and Cold Chain Equipment
Plan for Dashboard Mapping Africa’s Health Supply Chain

A well-functioning supply chain is the backbone of any health system. Yet across Africa, insufficient infrastructure, fragmented logistics, and limited access to real-time data often delay the delivery of essential health products, including vaccines, diagnostics, medicines, nutrition supplies, and emergency ...

Emergency Response and Preparedness
Home-Based Care: A COVID-19 Era Strategy Helps Fight Mpox

As mpox continues to affect communities across 26 African countries, health officials are turning to familiar strategies to manage the caseload. One such approach, home-based care, is being adapted from the COVID-19 response, offering a practical solution where hospital isolation capacity is ...

Platform for Harmonised African Health Manufacturing (PHAHM)
Solar-Powered Refrigerators Keep Vaccines Safe in Rural Uganda

What began as a massive expansion of cold chain space required to accommodate both COVID-19 vaccines and routine immunisation programmes continues today. Now, it is curbing high levels of vaccine wastage, empowering communities, and enabling Africa – particularly Uganda – to withstand ...