Communities worldwide are facing devastating challenges due to the recent international funding cuts. These have had a profound impact on the health sector and pose a serious risk to global health security.
Yet, unilateral funding cuts that ignore on-the-ground realities are exactly the wrong approach to development at a time of growing health threats. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored a critical lesson: Weak health systems in one part of the world are a danger to the health of all globally. Sustaining strong funding levels — even as we work to build resilient, diversified, and sustainable systems that will enable low- and middle-income countries to continue their hard-won progress against infectious diseases long after donor support has ended — rests squarely on the shoulders of all of us in the global community.
For Africa, the urgent need to save lives while preventing future pandemics is a compelling reason for leaders to focus on domestic resource mobilization, diversification, and investment in pandemic preparedness and response, supporting efforts to end infectious diseases while strengthening global health security.
About the author
Amb. Amma A. Twum-Amoah
Ambassador Amma A.Twum-Amoah is the commissioner for the department of health, humanitarian affairs, and social development at the African Union.
