Africa meets to chart new ways to finance health after USAID funding cuts

In Summary

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• Amref Health Africa Group CEO Dr. Githinji Gitahi, reminded African leaders and global stakeholders to rethink health investments.
• This, he said, will help build resilient and sustainable health systems.

As African communities continue feeling the heat of funding cuts by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), especially in the health sector, governments, partners and non-government organisations are meeting in Rwanda for the Africa Health Agenda International Conference (AHAIC).

The conference, convened by Amref Health Africa, the Rwanda Ministry of Health, World Health Organization Africa (WHO AFRO), and the Africa Centre for Disease Control (Africa CDC) sought to rethink ways to raise funding for health response on the continent.

Even though health leaders in Africa expressed their uncertainty that health systems were facing after the funding cuts, they were optimistic that African governments would absorb the shocks and work together to cushion communities from all the emergencies the cuts would bring forth.  

Speaking during a media briefing on Sunday ahead of the conference, the WHO Acting Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu reassured WHO’s commitment to working alongside African governments to address funding gaps, especially in areas previously supported by USAID and other donors, reminding them of the purpose for which WHO was formed in the first place. 

“Seventy-five years ago, countries around the world came together to say, listen, there are issues that we cannot deal with on our own, and we need a global platform to organize ourselves to deal with those things that we cannot manage on our own,” Dr. Ihekweazu said.

 “Seventy-five years later, that instinct hasn’t changed. Because any country changes with leadership, the instinct is the challenges are still there, the need for us to collaborate is still there, and I think we will find a way to navigate this.”

He further emphasized the need for governments to come together and collaborate to overcome the challenges they face.

“From our perspective, we’ve said we continue to welcome all the countries to see the benefit of collaborating, and the doors remain open to continue that collaboration. And we hope that by the time the impact becomes obvious, that reason will prevail and we will come back together to deal with the real challenges that we have every day,” he said.

Dr. Claudia Shilumani, the Director of External Relations and Strategic Management at Africa CDC, called on Africa to assert its health sovereignty, emphasizing that self-sufficiency is key to securing the continent’s health future.

“If we prioritize self-sufficiency in healthcare—developing, producing, and distributing our vaccines, medicines, and medical technologies—the centre will hold. We must also invest in a robust African health workforce to drive this vision forward.”

Dr. Shilumani lauded Rwanda’s leadership in exploring internal health financing solutions, marking a major step toward reducing dependence on foreign aid.

“Africa must lead its health agenda by investing in homegrown solutions, domestic resource mobilization, and innovative public-private partnerships.”

Amref Health Africa Group CEO Dr. Githinji Gitahi, reminded African leaders and global stakeholders to rethink health investments to build resilient and sustainable health systems, adding that donor funding is not an entitlement and that individual countries are at liberty to revise their funding policies and priorities.

He emphasized that health care financing is linked to Africa’s economic and population growth challenges.

“Sub-Saharan Africa, unlike other parts of the world, has the largest burden of infectious diseases, and yet now we have a unique challenge that whereas these diseases are here with us, we have rising barriers of non-communicable diseases at the same time, meaning that the health systems we have today, will not be the health systems we need tomorrow, because it requires a completely different mindset, though with the same foundations of primary health care,” Dr. Githinji said. 

Dr. Githinji stressed the need to shift investments toward Primary Health Care (PHC), warning that disproportionate funding for tertiary care leaves millions without access to essential services.

“For decades, we have called for prioritizing primary healthcare, as outlined in the 1978 Alma-Ata Declaration. Yet, we continue to mop the floor instead of fixing the leaking tap. If we want sustainable health systems, we must redirect investments to PHC, where 80% of our people seek care.”

Dr. Githinji continued to encourage African governments to shift their mindsets from the funding promises and focus on the vulnerable communities that they serve.

Article first published on https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2025-03-04-africa-meets-to-chart-new-ways-to-finance-health-after-usaid-funding-cuts