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Africa’s Health Financing in a New Era

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) (2025) CC

Africa’s health sector is facing an unprecedented financing crisis, driven by a sharp decline of 70% in Official Development Assistance (ODA) from 2021 to 2025 and deep-rooted structural vulnerabilities. This collapse is placing immense pressure on Africa’s already fragile health systems as ODA ...is seen as the backbone of critical health programs: pandemic preparedness, maternal and child health services, disease control programs are all at risk, threatening Sustainable Development Goal 3 and Universal Health Coverage. Compounding this is Africa’s spiraling debt, with countries expected to service USD 81 billion by 2025—surpassing anticipated external financing inflows—further eroding fiscal space for health investments. Level of domestic resources is low. TThe Abuja Declaration of 2001, a pivotal commitment made by African Union (AU) member states, aimed to reverse this trend by pledging to allocate at least 15% of national budgets to the health sector. However, more than two decades later, only three countries—Rwanda, Botswana, and Cabo Verde—have consistently met or exceeded this target (WHO, 2023). In contrast, over 30 AU member states remain well below the 10% benchmark, with some allocating as little as 5–7% of their national budgets to health. In addition, only 16 (29%) of African countries currently have updated versions of National Health Development Plan (NHDP) supported by a National Health Financing Plan (NHFP). These two documents play a critical role in driving internal resource mobilisation. At the same time, public health emergencies are surging, rising 41%—from 152 in 2022 to 213 in 2024—exposing severe under-resourcing of health infrastructure and workforce. Recurring outbreaks (Mpox, Ebola, cholera, measles, Marburg…) alongside effects of climate change and humanitarian crises in Eastern DRC, the Sahel, and Sudan, are overwhelming systems stretched by chronic underfunding. The situation is worsened by Africa’s heavy dependency with over 90% of vaccines, medicines, and diagnostics being externally sourced—leaving countries vulnerable to global supply chain shocks. Health worker shortages persist, with only 2.3 professionals per 1,000 people (below the WHO’s recommended 4.45), and fewer than 30% of systems are digitized, undermining disease surveillance and early warning. Without decisive action, Africa CDC projects the continent could reverse two decades of health progress, face 2 to 4 million additional preventable deaths annually, and a heightened risk of a pandemic emerging from within. Furthermore, 39 million more Africans could be pushed into poverty by 2030 due to intertwined health and economic shocks. This is not just a sectoral crisis—it is an existential threat to Africa’s political, social, and economic resilience, and global stability. In response, African leaders, under Africa CDC’s stewardship, are advancing a comprehensive three-pillar strategy centered on domestic resource mobilization, innovative financing, and blended finance. more

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Disability considerations for COVID-19 vaccination

World Health Organization WHO; UNICEF (2021) C_WHO

Available in Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish; WHO and UNICEF policy brief, 19 April 2021 Persons with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, both directly because of infection, and indirectly because of restrictions to reduce the spread of the virus. Persons with di... more

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Policy brief: Access to assistive technology

World Health Organization WHO (2021) C_WHO

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Geflüchtete Menschen mit Behinderungen

Deutsches Institut für Menschenrechte (2019) CC

Handlungsnotwendigkeiten für eine bedarfsgerechte Aufnahme in Deutschland

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The Washington Group Short Set on Functioning : Question Specifications

Washington Group on Disability Statistics (2017) CC

WG Implementation Guidelines Tool 4

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2015 IHBSS Fact Sheets

Philippines, Department of Health, Epidemiology Bureau (2017) C1

Integrated HIV Behavioral and Serologic Surveillance

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Recommendations on strategic priorities on the situation of persons with disabilities from Latin America and Caribbean experts

United Nation ECLAC (2015) CC

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WSTP Training of Trainers Card Deck

World Health Organization WHO, et al. Management of Health Science (2013) C_WHO

Content has been developed based on the WHO Wheelchair Guidelines and the Wheelchair Service Training Package—Basic Level. Adult Education

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National Policy on Disability. Easy to Read Version

Government of Zambia (2017) C1

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Sri Lanka - Guidance Disability Information Sheet

CBM Australia (2014)

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From Norm to Practice: A Status Report on Implementation of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Kenya

Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (2014) C1

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Differentiated Care for Adults at High Risk of HIV Disease Progression: A Call to Action

ICAP (2017) C1

The evidence base for differentiated care for stable patients has grown in recent years. There has been less attention, however, to developing differentiated models of care for patients with advanced or unstable HIV disease. Current clinical guidelines and policies regarding optimal packages of care... more

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Considerations on Indigenous Peoples, Afro-Descendants, and Other Ethnic Groups during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Pan American Health Organization PAHO (2020) C_WHO

In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the outbreak of COVID-19, the disease caused by a new coronavirus, constituted a pandemic, given the speed and scale of its transmission. The Region of the Americas is characterized by its rich multi-ethnic and multicultural heritage. ... more

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Attitudes Towards Persons With Disability In Ghana

J. Slikker VSO Ghana (2009) C1

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Guidance Note on Health Disaster Risk Management with Indigenous Peoples

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) (2019) C_WHO

For centuries, indigenous peoples around the world have used their traditional knowledge to prepare for, cope with and survive disasters. Their methods and practices originated within their communities and have been maintained and passed down over generations. Until recently, policy makers have larg... more

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Disability Inclusive Get Ready Guidebook

USAID Atullya Foundation (2021) CC

Due to Nepal’s difficult geographic structure, rapid urbanization, varied groundwater level, and increasing population the country is prone to earthquakes, floods, landslides, fires, lightning, hailstone, drought, epidemic, and other disasters. These disasters cause a huge loss of li... more

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Ghosts and Germs: Cerebral Palsy in Nepal - A preliminary exploration of cosmology and disability

Saul, R. and D. Philipps (1999) C1

Chapter 13 in Stone, E. (ed.) 1999: Disability and Development: Learning from action and research on disability in the majority world, Leeds: The Disability Press pp. 210-227