Continental Health Agency Ready To Cure Africans

Thandisizwe Mgudlwa

Cape Town: The recently launch of Africa’s continent-wide public health agency, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC),  stands to better the face of health for millions of Africans.

Experts have remarked that the Africa CDC, will help African Member States respond to public health emergencies.

The agency was launched on January 31, this year in Addis Ababa.

According to the African Union, the importance of public health is underlined by the fact that it has an impact on national, social and economic development.

"Because of this importance, the African Union Assembly of Heads of State authorized an annual contribution from the overall African Union operating budget for 2016 to safeguard Africa’s health.

The need for an Africa CDC to support African countries as they monitor and respond to public health threats was recognized by the African Union in 2013 and formalized in 2015," noted the AU.

Guinea’s President Alpha Conde, whose country was one of the Ebola affected states between 2013 and 2015 attended the launch ceremony in his capacity as the Chairperson of the African Union.

A point of noteworthy, is that much progress has been made since the African Union Ministers of Health meeting in Malabo adopted the Statute of the Africa CDC in July 2015. They had also urged the fast tracking of the establishment of the institution.

Other positive developments include, five Regional Collaborating Centers to work with the African CDC Coordinating Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia have been selected.

In addition, n Emergency Operations Center has been set up at the Addis Ababa headquarters and 10 highly qualified epidemiologists are ready to monitor for disease threats across Africa.

The Au also adds, "The epidemiologists will be responsible for disease surveillance, investigations, analysis, and reporting trends and anomalies.

A director, Dr John Nkengasong has been recruited and a governing board appointed. 

The Africa CDC will join the international networks of public health institutions to share information and improve surveillance of public health threats," says the AU.

The African-owned institution, the Africa CDC, is reported to be uniquely positioned to help protect the health of the continent.