2024 Public Health in Africa Year in Review

Public Health in Africa
Written By Jonta Kamara

This year, I am back with my 2024 year in review highlighting some key accomplishments and milestones in Public Health in Africa. This post is broken down by the four quarters of the year.

Quarter 1

January started off with disease elimination. On January 12, 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) certified Cabo Verde as Malaria free. This is the third country in WHO Africa region to be certified. Cabo Verde’s plan for malaria elimination included a 2009 to 2013 strategic malaria plan which included expanding diagnostics, effective treatment, and reporting cases.

In February, the 37th Ordinary Session of the African Union (AU) Summit was held. This brought together the Heads of State and had key discussions on local manufacturing, the announcement of a pooled medicines procurement mechanism, and the operationalization of the African Medicines Agency (AMA) to name a few.

In February, the Harvard Africa Students Health Forum also hosted its 2nd annual conference. They created a space for the AU’s 6th region to connect and contribute to public health on the continent. The conference theme was mapping changemakers, which focused on the current initiatives. On February 29, 2024, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) expanded their partnership to strengthen procurement and supply of vaccines to ensure that children are immunized.

Zambia also became one of the first countries to roll out HIV long-lasting injectables. UNAIDS (2023) estimates that there are over 1,000,000 adults and children with HIV in Zambia. Benefits of long-lasting injectables include improving adherence as antiretroviral therapy (ART) may need to be taken daily.

In March, there were further developments in local manufacturing. The African Development Bank (AfDB) hosted a meeting in which the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation and the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development partnered to strengthen Nigeria's pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing capacity. This includes establishing good manufacturing practices and building the specific skillsets needed for local manufacturing and is a concrete step to achieving pillar 3 of Africa’s New Public Health Order (NPHO).

Quarter 2

Moving on to some highlights from quarter 2. April started with the WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and the AfDB President Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina meeting at the Islamic Development Bank’s Golden Jubilee Anniversary. They discussed the need to strengthen investment in the local production of medical products and basic infrastructure for health services including water and electricity.

This month, Africa CDC also started the process to become an implementing entity of the Pandemic Fund. This marks progress from February 2023, when Africa CDC did not participate in the expressions of interest as they were not considered an implementing entity.

In May, South Africa signed a National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill into law. This is a step South Africa is taking to achieve universal health coverage. The NHI is a centralized insurance fund where the government buys healthcare services with the goal of reducing the fragmentation of the system. In May, Youth In Action also announced its Youth Steering Committee.

In June, Nigerian President His Excellency President Bola Tinubu, signed an Executive Order aiming to increase local production of healthcare products. These products include pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, devices such as needles and syringes, biologicals, medical textiles, etc. The Order also aims to reduce production costs by introducing zero tariffs and has market-shaping mechanisms to encourage local manufacturers.

From June 3 to 4, 2024, Egypt hosted the 3rd African Medical Exhibition and Conference. This convened key players in the medical industry, particularly pharmaceuticals.

On June 13, the WHO declared Zimbabwe the 6th country in the region to achieve maturity level 3 (ML 3) in the classification for regulatory authorities. This shows a significant step to increase access to quality medications and results from investments from the Government of Zimbabwe and its partners. Assessments of regulatory authorities are conducted using the WHO’s Global Benchmarking Tool and the highest level that can be achieved is ML 4.

On June 21, UNAIDS applauded the Namibian High Court for deciding to protect the human rights and health of all Namibians. The High Court declared the criminalization of same-sex relationships as unconstitutional. This law furthered the HIV epidemic as LGBTQ+ individuals were discouraged from seeking HIV testing and treatment.

On June 29, the 3rd Regional Ministerial Steering Committee (ReSCO) meeting was held in Lusaka, Zambia. This brought together Ministers of Health in the Southern Africa region to reaffirm their commitment to public health issues. This meeting launched the Regional Integrated Surveillance and Laboratory Networks (RISLNET) Framework, and the Terms of Reference for the Southern Africa Taskforce on Cholera Control and Prevention.


On July 28, 2024, the first kidney transplant took place in Mauritania. This transplant shows the importance of collaboration on the continent, as this was done by a Mauritian-Algeria medical team. This transplant was eight years in the works, as it started with the Mauritian parliament adopting a law on the donation, removal, and transplantation of human organs and tissues in 2016.

In August 2024, fourteen African countries, and key partners united to provide critical resources for health in WHO’s first-ever Investment Round. Sustainable financing is critical for organizations such as WHO to respond to health emergencies, and continue providing public health support. The AfDB also launched a Policy Blueprint highlighting the potential for health technology innovations. The challenges highlighted include the lack of unified, comprehensive and updated policies, complex licensing processes, fragmented and poorly digitized health data systems, and Insufficient funding and innovation incentives. Recommendations include strengthening dialogue, refining policies protecting data, and accelerating innovation.

Quarter 4

October was filled with many accomplishments and milestones. On October 10, WHO certified Senegal’s Emergency Medical Team for building capacities to respond rapidly & effectively to health emergencies. Senegal has become the first in Africa to join the WHO registry of internationally deployable teams. This is a great step to ensure coordinated responses for public health emergencies.

On October 11, the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, Gavi, UNICEF, and WHO launch the Health Facility Solar Electrification (HFSE) initiative to enhance primary health care services. This is a reminder that for functioning health systems, there needs to be adequate infrastructure in place. Expanding solar panels is a climate-friendly solution to ensure health facilities can continue to function.

On October 20, the WHO certified Egypt as malaria-free. This success can be attributed to partnerships with neighboring countries as well as offering Malaria diagnosis and treatment free of charge to the entire population regardless of legal status. On October 25, 2024, Chad introduced the R21 Malaria vaccine. WHO estimates that in 2023, 1.75 million cases of malaria were recorded with 36% of them in children.

On October 28, there was a major milestone in gender equity. WHO African Regional Office (AFRO)  and Women Lift Health established a partnership to expand investments in women’s leadership in health across the region. This partnership aims to expand the current WHO AFRO initiatives which include the Africa Women Health Champions initiative; and Pathways to Leadership programme for female staff.

In October, there was the Africa Health Tech Summit in Kigali, Rwanda. This Summit brought together stakeholders from the health and technology sectors to discuss and explore innovative solutions for healthcare challenges. Following the Summit, there was the launch of the healthcare marketplace.

Moving on to the last month of the year, December! On December 3, the Continental Secretariat for the Lusaka Agreement Secretariat for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) was launched. The Lusaka Agreement was launched on Universal Health Coverage Day in 2023 and proposed a vision for domestically financed health systems and UHC.

December also saw further milestones in local manufacturing with Rwanda and Senegal both achieving ML 3. These are huge milestones in the regulation of medicines.

There have been key developments focusing on local manufacturing, investments in the public health workforce and leadership, and expanding partnerships This focuses on pillars 2, 3, and 5 of Africa’s New Public Health Order.

I hope everyone has a great holiday season!

Jonta Kamara
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