01 July 2025
Brussels, Online
On 1 July 2025 from 09:00-10:30 CEST, ECDPM in collaboration with Aidsfonds, ONE, Global Health Advocates and Friends of the Global Fund Europe are hosting a hybrid event to launch a policy brief analysing the Global Fund’s contribution to achieving health sovereignty in Africa and how these efforts align with and support the rollout of the Global Gateway and relevance to key Team Europe Initiatives.
Global health is at an inflection point; whilst COVID disrupted health services, now debt distress, the impacts of climate change and funding cuts are conspiring to further undermine progress made against preventable diseases over the past 20 years. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the world’s largest multilateral funder of global health grants in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), has disbursed over US$65 billion to fight these infectious diseases to date (Global Fund n.d). Beyond combating infectious diseases, the Global Fund plays a critical role in strengthening health systems and accelerating progress toward universal health coverage (UHC), particularly by investing in resilient, community-level health delivery systems, that serve the most marginalised populations.Health sovereignty is a key priority for the African Union (AU), spelled out in its New Public Health Order. This continental roadmap is designed to build a more resilient, self-sufficient, and responsive health ecosystem across the continent. It reflects a shift towards proactive leadership in health governance and aims to better protect African populations from future pandemics and endemic diseases. Its priorities include increasing domestic investment in health to reduce dependence on donor funding and enhancing local manufacturing of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics to ensure timely and equitable access.
The Lusaka Agenda provides a pathway for coordinated action and mutual accountability towards a joint long-term vision of domestically-financed health systems and UHC.Similarly, health is a key policy area of the European Union’s (EU) development cooperation, with a dedicated strategy, the Global Health Strategy, establishing the key priorities and actions. Health is also one of the five sectors targeted by the Global Gateway strategy and within the AU-EU partnership, cooperation on health is progressively developing with five Team Europe Initiatives (TEIs) focussed on health.
Despite growing health needs, the funding landscape globally. The EU remains an important contributor to ODA, and especially to health. Of the 46 Global Gateway projects approved for 2025, 6 were targeting health, of which 3 are in Africa. The health-related TEIs support local manufacturing (MAV+), SRHR, One health, digital health and public institutions. The EU is a key contributor to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which is currently mobilizing resources as part of its eighth replenishment. In a context of constrained resources, it is important to understand and maximize the synergies between EU health investments and the EU’s political priorities, including those aimed at supporting Africa’s health sovereignty.
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