By Ojoma Akor
Africa CDC says it would support the establishment of national public health institutes in member states without them.
The Regional Director of the Africa CDC, West Africa Regional Coordinating Centre (RCC). Dr. Alinon Kokou stated this during the closing ceremony of the
West Africa regional review and coordination meeting organized by the Africa CDC in collaboration with other partners.
The meeting was themed “Strengthening Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capacities in West Africa.”
He said the institutes support public health emergency preparedness and response capacities in member states.
Dr Kokou said the meeting also brainstormed on surveillance and health promotion for non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
He said, ” NCDs account for more than 60% of deaths at the hospital level, so we discussed innovative ways of health promotion to address the risk factors that are driving the NCDs.”
He said the meeting also brainstormed on ways to support states that are still behind on the 7-1-7 targets.
According to him, this means that a country should be organized so that, if there is an outbreak, it can detect and manage the early response within seven days.
“But some countries are still behind, and they request us to address these 7-1-7 targets in each member state,” he said.
He said that each of the 15 member states made a presentation on its progress during the meeting, which enabled the meeting to conduct a kind of needs assessment.
He said, “ So we have all the information about the real situation in each member state, and this will allow us to organize ourselves for 2026. The four days allowed countries to share experiences, learn from one another, and, as the African CDC, we gained the necessary information to address their needs.”
The regional coordinator stated that some other challenges faced by member states include a lack of funding, adding that there is a need to push for innovative domestic resource mobilization, especially with US funding cuts.
He said conflicts were also affecting immunization in some member states, adding, “We are pushing to address zero dose, but it cannot be addressed if we don’t develop a strategy to conduct immunization in those areas affected by conflict. Data also shows that maternal deaths are increasing. We are happy that UNFPA is here and has a project. We are also going to develop a project to support member states in addressing maternal health and deaths.”
Dr. Yusupha Touray, Permanent Secretary of The Gambia’s Ministry of Health, said the discussions on public health emergency preparedness and response are a significant step towards coordinated regional health security.
He said that member states are ready to support one another to strengthen emergency preparedness. He said, “Diseases don’t wait for the right moment. With the motivation we have seen, and with Africa CDC’s follow-up, implementation will start quickly.”
