THE FUNDAMENTALS OF LIFE 5.5
By Jean Kaseya, CEO and director-general, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention
A new deal for African health security
I nfectious diseases continue to be the major causes of mortality and morbidity in Africa. The impact of known existing, emerging and re-emerging diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/ AIDS and others are causing suffering and mortality to a wide proportion of populations in low- and middle-income countries in general, and Africa in particular. Over 227 million years of health life have been lost with an annual productivity loss exceeding $800 billion in Africa. With malnutrition a common contributor to illness, the five highest causes of mortality in Africa are acute respiratory infections, HIV/AIDS, diarrhoea, malaria and tuberculosis – being responsible for about 80% of the total infectious disease burden and claiming more than 6 million people every year. The Covid-19 pandemic significantly affected lives, livelihoods and economies in Africa. It has claimed over 250,000 lives and over 12 million reported cases. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention led a continental pandemic response by designing appropriate strategies that targeted the unique challenges and diverse epidemiology of the disease.
Despite the challenges, the continent’s response was quick and unified, with strong public support for safety measures. It has significantly learned from the experiences of past outbreaks, such as Ebola and polio. ONE EMERGENCY TO ANOTHER As the continent emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic, it faces multiple public health emergencies, including emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases such as Ebola virus disease, Marburg virus disease, cholera, meningitis, measles, Mpox, yellow fever, dengue fever and Rift Valley fever. Multiple factors contribute to the rise of emerging infectious diseases in Africa, with more than 100 disease outbreaks reported every year. These outbreaks are exacerbated by the disruption of health services by the Covid-19 pandemic, economic challenges that affect investment in health, changes in climate and weather, changing ecosystems, rapid population growth, rapidly increasing urbanisation, limited access to clean water and sanitation, and social inequality and instability, among other factors. Much remains to be done to achieve zero transmission and eliminate malaria, tuberculosis and
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has a vision: to become world class and self-sustaining and position itself in line with universal health coverage, Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union’s Agenda 2063. To do so, it is proposing a New Deal lost in annual productivity due to diseases in Africa +$ 800 bn > 250 k African lives lost to Covid-19
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Health: A Political Choice – From Fragmentation to Integration
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