African CDC

African CDC
Name	African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention
Founded	2017
Headquarters	Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Region served	African Union Member States
Parent organization	African Union

African CDC

The African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is a public health agency established to support African Union Member States in public health surveillance, emergency response, and disease prevention. It works with continental and international partners including World Health Organization, United Nations, United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and regional entities to coordinate responses to outbreaks such as Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa, COVID-19 pandemic, and Yellow fever outbreak in Angola and Democratic Republic of the Congo. The agency is headquartered in Addis Ababa and operates within the institutional framework of the African Union Commission.

Background and Establishment

The idea for a continental public health agency emerged from discussions within the African Union and deliberations at summits such as the AU Summit (2013), influenced by lessons from the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa and calls from leaders including Paul Kagame and Alpha Conde. The proposal drew on models from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, and historical institutions like the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. The Constitutive Act of the African Union and resolutions from the African Union Commission provided political backing, while funding pledges came from bilateral partners such as the People's Republic of China, European Union, and United States. The organization was formally launched at an AU summit, operationalized with support from the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa and endorsed by health ministers from Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Africa, and Kenya.

Organizational Structure and Leadership

The agency is organized into technical centers, surveillance units, and emergency operations modeled after structures at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Leadership includes a Director appointed by the African Union Commission with oversight from a Board whose members include ministers from Nigeria, Senegal, Rwanda, Ghana, and South Africa. Divisions cover disease control, public health surveillance, laboratory systems, and workforce development, drawing on expertise from institutions like Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Pasteur Institute, and University of Cape Town. Regional collaborating centers engage subregional bodies such as the Economic Community of West African States, Southern African Development Community, Economic Community of Central African States, East African Community, and Intergovernmental Authority on Development.

Mandate and Functions

The mandate includes strengthening public health surveillance, coordinating outbreak response, and building laboratory capacity across African Union Member States. Core functions mirror activities at World Health Organization headquarters and regional offices: epidemiological surveillance, emergency preparedness, laboratory networking, and workforce development akin to programs at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Médecins Sans Frontières. It provides technical guidance during events like the 2018 Kivu Ebola epidemic and supports vaccination campaigns referencing protocols from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. The agency also contributes to health security frameworks linked to the International Health Regulations (2005) and works with legal instruments such as the African Medicines Agency initiatives.

Major Programs and Initiatives

Major programs include the Surveillance and Disease Intelligence Unit, the Antimicrobial Resistance Program, the Health Workforce Development Initiative, and the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre network. Initiatives have targeted diseases and priorities exemplified by campaigns against HIV/AIDS pandemic, malaria, tuberculosis, cholera outbreaks, and non-communicable disease awareness paralleling efforts by UNAIDS and Roll Back Malaria Partnership. Emergency responses have coordinated resources during the COVID-19 pandemic and supported vaccine rollouts with partners like COVAX and manufacturers such as AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson. Laboratory strengthening initiatives mirror programs at the Africa Society for Laboratory Medicine and collaborations with the Africa Vaccine Manufacturing Initiative to boost regional production capacity.

Partnerships and Collaborations

The agency maintains partnerships with international organizations and national public health institutes including the World Health Organization, United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, and national agencies such as Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases, and Kenya Medical Research Institute. Collaborations extend to philanthropic entities like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, multilateral mechanisms such as the Global Fund, and academic partners including Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Imperial College London, and Makerere University. It coordinates with regional economic bodies including the African Development Bank and security frameworks like the African Standby Force for logistics during crises. Technical cooperation involves private sector firms such as Pfizer and Moderna for vaccine distribution and diagnostics firms like Cepheid and Abbott Laboratories.

Challenges and Criticisms

The agency faces challenges including limited sustainable financing, dependence on external donors such as United States Agency for International Development and Department for International Development, and constraints in scaling laboratory networks across diverse health systems in countries like Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia. Criticisms have focused on perceived bureaucratic delays at African Union institutions, coordination tensions with World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa, and gaps in rapid deployment capacity highlighted during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa and early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Other critiques address equitable vaccine access debates involving COVAX and intellectual property discussions at forums such as the World Trade Organization and the World Health Assembly, and calls for greater investment from continental finance actors including the African Development Bank and national treasuries in Nigeria and South Africa.

Category:Public health organizations