On April 23, in an act of continental solidarity, João Lourenço, Angola’s President and Chairperson of the African Union (AU), announced a voluntary contribution of USD 5 million to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). This reaffirmed Angola’s leadership and enduring commitment to strengthening regional health security and sustainable health financing.

The announcement came after a high-level meeting held on April 21 in Luanda between President Lourenço and Dr. Jean Kaseya, Director General of the Africa CDC. During the meeting, the two leaders discussed regional health priorities and the urgent need to mitigate the impact of declining development assistance. President Lourenço also committed to convening a Committee of African Heads of State to champion the implementation of Africa CDC’s continental strategy, “Rethinking African Health Financing in a New Era”. This is a bold response to the sharp 70% decline in external development assistance for health across the continent.

In support of local manufacturing, Dr. Kaseya announced that Africa CDC will support Angola’s plan for producing mosquito bed nets, an initiative to strengthen vector control and expand regional production capacity. President Lourenço welcomed Africa CDC’s commitment to advancing local manufacturing of health commodities and confirmed that a major national initiative aligned with this vision will soon be launched.

(Source: Africa CDC)