The African continent has been taking steps in the right direction for continental pandemic preparedness, driven in part by COVID-19. These efforts must continue with a sense of urgency and efficiency — in the areas of surveillance systems, domestic finance mechanisms, regulatory oversight, national public health institutes, and funding sustainability.
The second International Conference on Public Health in Africa, hosted in December 2022 by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in partnership with the Rwanda Ministry of Health provided a platform to discuss pandemic preparedness from an African lens and debate what we got right as a continent, and where we need to collaboratively work together to forge a path toward an Africa prepared to respond.
In early 2021, Africa watched the global north rapidly progress with mass vaccinations for COVID-19, while it pleaded for vaccine doses to be made available for its people. By the end of December 2021, when the United States and many countries in Europe had vaccinated over 50% of their populations, Africa had only managed to vaccinate close to 11%.
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