African Ministers Call for Health Financing Sovereignty to Build Resilient Systems

Addis Ababa, February 13, 2026 (ENA)—African Ministers and health officials have called for urgent action to secure financial health sovereignty as a foundation for building resilient health systems across the continent.

The call was made during a High-Level Event on Advancing Africa’s Health Security Sovereignty, which focused on strengthening collaboration between finance and health leadership.

The event was co-hosted by the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the African Development Bank Group and the African Union Development Agency.

Ministers of Health and Finance from across Africa attended the meeting to explore ways of enhancing domestic health financing and reducing dependency on external support.

Speaking at the event, Ethiopia’s Minister of Health and Deputy Chair of the Africa CDC Board, Dr. Mekdes Daba, said the continent is operating in a rapidly shifting global landscape marked by recurrent outbreaks, evolving geopolitical realities and declining external assistance.

She noted that these changes have exposed the risks of over reliance on external systems. Building consolidated continental capacity, she said, is not merely an institutional ambition but a strategic necessity.

“Strengthened regional collaboration, sustained country level investment, technical capacity, strong governance and greater self-reliance are the aspirations we must collectively pursue,” she said.

Director General of Africa CDC, Dr. Jean Kaseya, stressed that Africa must take ownership of its health agenda. “Africa must define its own health priorities, lead its own solutions and finance its own resilience from within,” he said.

According to him, Africa Health Security and Sovereignty represent a unifying vision that reframes health not as a social sector expense but as a pillar of continental sovereignty, economic resilience and geopolitical credibility.

“Africa's health security is inseparable from its economic future and global standing,” he underscored.

Dr. Kaseya further emphasized the need to address inefficiencies in existing spending.

“Africa's path out of aid dependency will not be found by chasing more money, but by stopping the massive inefficiencies and waste in the money it already has,” he stressed.

Chief Executive Officer of AUDA NEPAD, Nardos Bekele, said sustainable health financing requires structural reform and deliberate mobilization of blended investments to complement diverse domestic resources while reducing reliance on external funding.

“Health sovereignty can no longer be a slogan. It must become our financing strategy,” she affirmed, noting that investments in health should be viewed as core economic strategy rather than consumptive expenditure.

President of the African Development Bank Group, Sidi Ould Tah, said the Bank is advancing a new African financial architecture that moves beyond traditional debt limitations.

He highlighted the deployment of innovative financial instruments and risk mitigation mechanisms to attract private sector investment and treat health as a productive social investment.

“We need to mobilize the resources required to close our funding gap and reduce out of pocket expenditure for our citizens,” he underlined.

Participants agreed that strengthening domestic health financing is central to securing Africa’s long term economic stability and resilience.