Opinion: Self-reliant African health care can’t be a copy and paste

The only way we can better prepare and manage future health threats and improve health outcomes across Africa is by building resilient health systems. But we can’t copy and paste what has worked elsewhere — we must critically focus on what works for us.

While Africa accounts for 16% of the global population and 26% of the global disease burden, our governments are only spending $4.5 billion in capital expenditure on health as compared to the $26 billion required annually to meet the continent's evolving health needs over the next decade. We reflect on three lines of action that would ignite and multiply the impact of health policies, interventions, and financing that suit the African continent's social, economic, and environmental realities.

Global health initiatives have supported Africa and various lower-income countries to achieve significant improvements in health outcomes. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, for example, contributed to cutting child mortality by half in 73 lower-income countries, while the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria invests upward of $8 billion per funding cycle to eliminate HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria in sub-Saharan Africa.