On top of the conflicts, famines, disease outbreaks, and natural disasters that occurred on the continent as we wrap up the year I would like to highlight some public health developments and accomplishments. This shows the ability to manage disease outbreaks and progress towards achieving self-sustaining public health systems on the continent.
In January Ghana was added to the list of countries that eliminated gambiense Human African trypanosomiasis commonly known as sleeping sickness. Ghana joins Togo which was the first country in West Africa to get validation from the World Health Organization (WHO) to have eliminated sleeping sickness in August 2020. January also saw the end of the 2022 Ebola Outbreak in Uganda, which was caused by Sudan ebolavirus.
In February, Africa Centres for Disease Prevention and Control (Africa CDC) launched its Youth Advisory Team for Health. This showed steps by the Africa CDC to engage with youth. A regional approach was taken, appointing one individual from each of the continent's 5 regions. This shows the action taken following the announcement of a youth advisory team at the inaugural Youth-Pre-Conference to the Conference of Public Health in Africa (CPHIA). Africa CDC has continued engaging with youth as there was a call for Applications for the African Union Bingwa Initiative for Southern and Western Africa Regions. The Lancet and World Economic Forum have published articles on how Africa's Youth are changing the landscape of health security. Engaging with youth is vital to achieving health security on the continent!
In March, the Africa Health Agenda International (AHAIC) Conference was held in Kigali, Rwanda. This conference was held jointly by Amref, the Ministry of Health Rwanda, African Union (AU), and Africa CDC. This conference brought attention to the link between climate and health. Africa is disproportionally impacted by climate change, hence conversations on how to adapt and ensure health systems are ready for changes are important.
Africa CDC also launched two fellowships adding to the initiatives to strengthen the public health workforce. In March, there was the launch of the African Public Health Emergency Management Fellowship and in April, there was the launch of the Pathogen Genomics and Bioinformatics Fellowship Programme.
On World Health Day (April 7), the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (AFRO) highlighted health progress in Africa. Some of these included decreased death and new infections caused by HIV, reduced maternal mortality by 38%, and increased life expectancy by 10 years.
In April, Ghana became the first country to approve Oxford University's malaria vaccine. Ghana's Food and Drug Authority approved the vaccine for domestic use for children at the highest risk of death from malaria. This was a step taken to protect the health of the most vulnerable.
Also in April, a new mRNA vaccine hub was officially launched by the WHO in Cape Town, South Africa. This hub is a public-private partnership including Biovac, Afrigen and the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC). mRNA vaccines use the genetic code of the virus to tell your body to provide an immune response. These types of vaccines also take shorter to create and are cheaper making them more favorable to use and produce.
This hub aims to provide access to COVID-19 vaccines, malaria, and HIV, which is another step toward local vaccine manufacturing and equitable access to vaccines.
In May, Ghana performed its first awake brain surgery. This surgery removes tumors and was conducted successfully at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital. During this month, Benin and Mali were added to the list for eliminating trachoma as a public health concern. They both utilized the WHO's SAFE strategy which includes improving the access to sanitation and hygiene.
The 76th World Health Assembly was also held in May. A key milestone from this was the launch of the Joint Emergency Preparedness and Response Action Plan (JEAP) with Africa CDC, AFRO, and the World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO). This puts three institutions needed for Africa's health security in a 5-year strategic collaboration to improve emergency and response efforts. The region has seen a rise in Zoonotic infections making it important to have swift and effective responses to outbreaks.
On June 2, 2023, Tanzania declared the end of a Marbug Virus Disease Outbreak. This was the country's first outbreak that had nine cases and six deaths. On June 14, South Africa approved the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) bill. Some argue that the bill will make the already burdened health system collapse. This raises questions about UHC and its effective implementation to ensure people can access healthcare promptly while ensuring health systems are not overburdened.
June also saw the foundations of the BioNTech mRna manufacturing facility in Rwanda. This should lay the foundations for vaccine manufacturing on the continent. The aim is that the vaccines produced are to be prioritized for AU Member States.
June marks half way of the year, thanks for making it this far! Let's see what other milestones have occured to achieve Africa's Health Security.
In July, UNICEF, WHO, and Gavi announced the outcome of the first malaria vaccine supply allocation. 18 million doses of the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine were allocated for Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. Malaria is a big killer in Africa killing half a million children under 5 and Africa accounts for nearly 95% of global malaria cases. A vaccine could help to change these statistics by reducing the number of times children get malaria in endemic countries. The timeline included sending doses to countries in the last quarter of the year and more are expected in 2024.
August saw the continent's public health experts meet in Gaborone, Botswana to discuss pandemic readiness and how the continent can be better prepared for the next pandemic. This month, the Director-General of Africa CDC and the Secretary-General of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) met. This meeting will have some important implications for local manufacturing of medical products and strengthening medical supply chains.
September started with the Africa Climate Week held in Nairobi, Kenya. This provided a platform for individuals to exchange on climate solutions. The convening had a track on "Societies, health, livelihoods, and economies." This track discussed the impacts of extreme heat on human health and the connections with climate change, ecosystem, and gender dimensions among other topics.
In September, there was also the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). This session had 3 high-level discussions related to public health focusing on UHC, tuberculosis, and pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response (PPPR). UNGA saw the presence of Africa CDC and AMREF which hosted side events discussing PPPR and local manufacturing.
September also saw the commemoration of the second annual Africa-CARICOM Day. This sets the stage for a new partnership that could strengthen health systems in the Caribbean and Africa. The Health Development Partnership for Africa and the Carribean (HeDPAC) is a platform between the Carribean and African regions that aims to "forge[] smart health solutions." HePAC focuses on the health workforce, resilient health systems, and local manufacturing of medical products.
Thanks for making it this far! There are three more months of milestones to get through.
October, saw Egypt reach a milestone in hepatitis C progress. It is the first country in the world to achieve a 'gold tier' status. The country is on track to achieve the targets for full elimination by 2030. Egypt reduced the incidence of new infections from 300 per 100,0000 in 2014 to 9 per 100,000 in 2022. This is a 97% increase in less than 10 years and the success can be attributed to the nationwide campaigns.
November saw the largest space to discuss public health in Africa hosted by an African organization! It was the 3rd annual Conference of Public Health in Africa (CPHIA) hosted in Lusaka, Zambia. The conference was attended by over 5,000 in-person and online delegates, had 45 sessions and held 90+ in-person side events. The conference also provided a visa on arrival ensuring the conference was accessible. If you haven't read Aminata's experience at YPC and CPHIA, check it out here.
Finally, you have reached the last month of the year! This month there was the establishment of the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA) providing up to US $1.8 billion to establish a sustainable vaccine manufacturing industry on the continent. There was also a signing of the host country agreement of the Africa Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation (APTF) in Rwanda. This is another effort to achieve Africa CDC's New Public Health Order pillar three on increased local manufacturing.
This year, we have seen Africa's presence at high-level meetings, developments for local manufacturing, and steps to ensure resilient health systems. May the new year bring us continued improvements to establish our New Public Health Order.