The African continent is working toward a “new public health order” — a vision to achieve greater independence from foreign entities for the population’s health needs.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, African nations were at the back of the queue for critical lifesaving supplies — notably vaccines. The devastation this brought pushed the continent’s leadership to reshuffle the public health architecture to work toward ensuring the health security of a population of over a billion people.
This includes pushing forward the creation of a new pan-African regulatory agency, a new epidemics fund, a more autonomous Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and efforts to boost the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, among others.