As African leaders gather for the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government this week, the continent faces a defining policy moment. Amid climate shocks, humanitarian crises, demographic change, tightening fiscal space and shifting geopolitics, Africa must decide what it will prioritize to secure its prosperity, stability, and sustainable growth.
The question before leaders is not whether Africa recognizes the importance of health — it does — but whether governments, regional bodies, and partners will take the concrete decisions needed now to protect the continent’s most valuable asset: its people, especially women, children, and adolescents.
The African Union Summit must therefore move beyond reaffirming commitments to financing and implementing them at scale.
About the authors
Jean Kaseya
Jean Kaseya is a Congolese medical doctor and director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. He began his career as a community-based physician and went on to hold senior roles at the national, regional, and global levels, including serving as a senior adviser to former Democratic Republic of Congo President Laurent-Désiré Kabila at the ministerial level. He has worked across the public and private sectors, including with UNICEF, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Clinton Health Access Initiative, and the World Health Organization. As director-general of Africa CDC, Kaseya is leading the institution’s transformation into a continental public health authority, advancing Africa’s health security and sovereignty.
Diene Keita
Diene Keita is the executive director of the United Nations Population Fund. She provides overall leadership and strategic direction to the organization in its mission to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person’s potential is fulfilled. Keita has more than three decades of distinguished service in the international civil service, diplomacy, and government.
Dr. Mohamed Yakub Janabi
Dr. Mohamed Yakub Janabi assumed office as the World Health Organization regional director for Africa on June 30, 2025, bringing to the role over three decades of distinguished leadership in clinical medicine, health policy, public health, and health systems development across the continent, and beyond.
Rajat Khosla
Rajat Khosla has been the executive director of Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health since May 2024. He previously directed the International Institute on Global Health and worked at the World Health Organization and UN Human Rights on global health, rights, and inequalities. Rajat has advised major United Nations agencies, published widely, and holds affiliations with the University of Southern California Institute on Inequalities in Global Health and the University of Essex Human Rights Centre.
