The Director-General of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Mr. Jean Kaseya, has emphasised that capacity, collaboration and connectivity are particularly important for preventing future pandemics.
He made this known during the opening ceremony of the four-day 3rd International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA), under the theme: “Breaking Barriers: Repositioning Africa in the Global Health Architecture”, which began from 27th to 30th November in Lusaka, Zambia.
Mr. Kaseya emphasised that the New Public Health order would be focusing on 5Cs, namely; Community, Connectivity, Capacity, Collaboration and Climate.
The Community, he explained, is building community health programs to serve communities, whilst Connectivity on the other hand is intelligent Health Systems.
Capacity also includes skilled workforce, strong institutions and local production of medical Products.
Additionally, Collaboration entails results driven and respectful partnerships, whilst Climate is the adaptation strategies.
He further bemoaned that natural disasters are showing the linkage of climate change and health in Africa, and as such the continent loses 5-15% of its GDP annually due to the impact of climate change.
Mr Jean Kaseya disclosed that his outfit is advocating for an ambitious agenda that aims to ensure that by 2040, a minimum of 60% of vaccines and medicines used in Africa are manufactured within the continent.
He believes that, “By leveraging the digital advancements, including artificial intelligence, we can enhance our ability to detect emerging health threats and prevent a crisis.”
Mr Jean Kaseya complained that Africa faces significant barriers, but through “our collective resilience and ingenuity, we are breaking down these barriers and creating a New Public Health Order for the continent”.
The CPHIA 2023, he noted, will advance conversations that will shape the future of health in Africa, through sharing African-led research, health products and best practices.
“Our continent is a source of extraordinary knowledge and innovation – this conference will showcase this excellence, and position Africa as a transformative force in the global health narrative,’’ said Kaseya
The Conference was opened with African Heads of State, ministers of health and leading Scientists, Innovators and Researchers attending as Speakers and Participants.
The CPHIA 2023 Co-Chair, Prof. Senait Fisseha and Vice President of Global Programs, Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation commented that: ‘’CPHIA started during the COVID-19 pandemic – a pivotal time for Africa and the world. Coming together virtually in 2021 and in person in 2022, we shared lessons and approaches that saw us through the pandemic, and we have emerged stronger as a continent.
CPHIA 2023 will build on these foundations, elevating African voices and solutions to create strong, responsive and resilient health systems in Africa.
“Building on the success of CPHIA 2021 and 2022, this year’s convening will show how African researchers and health leaders are leveraging scientific research and innovations to develop groundbreaking solutions to long-standing challenges – and generating critical lessons from which the rest of the world can learn,’’ said Prof. Margaret Gyapong, CPHIA 2023 Co-Chair and Director of the Institute of Health Research, University of Health and Applied Sciences.
The conference is expected to spotlight cutting-edge research and innovations and present African-led solutions to public health challenges.
African countries have made significant progress in public health in recent years, supported by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
Efforts to coordinate and strengthen disease surveillance and outbreak response, for example, have improved the continent’s ability to respond quickly to public health emergencies.
Despite this progress, Africa continues to face many challenges: infectious diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS claim millions of lives each year; the burden of non-communicable diseases is increasing dramatically; and maternal mortality in Africa is among the highest in the world.
These challenges reinforce the need to build resilient health systems that can deliver quality care to all while responding to emerging threats.
The CPHIA 2023 is hosted by the African Union and Africa CDC in partnership with the Zambia Ministry of Health and the Zambia National Public Health Institute.
The conference will feature 9 plenary and 18 parallel sessions, several high-level special sessions, 18 abstract driven sessions and over 100 side events.
The in-person conference comes after three days of virtual programming, including 18 virtual abstract sessions and more than 30 virtual side events.
