Dear subscriber,
Health ministers have been meeting and agreed to put five big health priorities on the table. Do you think these are the right five?
Treezer Michelle Atieno - Editor
Five major health strategies were adopted by African health ministers during the 76th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa, held in Ethiopia. Two stand out for their potential impact on the continent’s health economy: A plan to add 3 million health workers by 2035 and a strategy to strengthen medical-product regulation.
The workforce agenda aims to improve health-worker planning, training, employment and retention, while the regulatory strategy seeks to strengthen oversight of medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and medical devices and expand regulatory cooperation across countries.
Three other policies were adopted, covering polio transition and sustainability, sustainable health financing and early childhood development across the region.
Our take: The health workforce gap is also a jobs and financing gap…Read more (2 min)
Africa has just adopted a strategy to add 3 million health workers by 2035, even as a million trained professionals remain without appropriate jobs. Eric Musyoki, Project Director at Rotary Club, argues that Africa’s workforce crisis is not only about training more people, but creating the jobs and financing conditions needed to employ and retain them.
“Africa needs more health workers, but training more people does not automatically solve the shortage if the system cannot employ and deploy them,” argues Mr Musyoki.
He examines the disconnect between training, employment and deployment, arguing that closing Africa’s workforce gap requires governments to treat health-worker investment as a health, employment and economic-development strategy.
Read the full opinion…Read more (2 min)
As African health systems seek to strengthen essential services, gaps in healthcare waste management represent a circular economy opportunity. Only 24% of healthcare facilities in sub-Saharan Africa had basic waste-management services in 2025, compared with 71% globally, highlighting the demand for solutions.
The WHO/UNICEF’s latest report on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene services highlights the scale of the gap, while WHO guidance sets out the infrastructure and treatment systems needed to manage healthcare waste safely.
For businesses, the gap creates opportunities across collection, treatment, recycling and resource recovery as health facilities seek to meet environmental requirements while managing waste-related costs.
Our take: The biggest opportunity may be in building integrated waste-management systems for health facilities…Read more (2 min)
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Ugandan drugmaker Dei Bio Pharma secures five-year Africa CDC supply contract
Events
🗓️ Participate in World Health Expo in Kenya (Sept 16)
🗓️ Register for the Africa Healthtech Summit in Rwanda (Sept 30)
🗓️ Join the International Conference on Public Health in Ethiopia (Nov 23)
Jobs
🧑⚕️Be the Infection Prevention and Control Manager at Mediclinic (SA)
🧑⚕️Apply to be the Nursing Practice & Quality Lead at Partners in Health (Malawi)
🧑⚕️Join Mediclinic as a Clinical Coordinator (SA)
Various
💉Ten Africa countries sign agreement to strengthens emergency preparedness
💉DR Congo begins Ebola vaccinations
💉African-made Ebola vaccine candidate gets $16.5 million funding
Seen on LinkedIn
Kemi Sope Agbebi, Consultant Pharmacist at Pacific Diagnostics, says, “Universal health coverage in Africa cannot be achieved if the fundamental supply chain is broken. Most healthcare investments have funded front-end clinical innovations e.g telemedicine apps and diagnostic tech. But we routinely ignore the back-end last mile infrastructure that actually delivers the care.”