The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted Africa-Europe relations and revealed deep inequalities in access to health services, vaccines and treatments. This compelled African and European actors to act, leading to significant political and financial commitments at the AU-EU Summit in 2022. Consequently, the development of African public health institutions and medicines regulatory authorities has accelerated. This paper reviews progress in the AU-EU health partnership and analyses its current direction, identifying converging interests and areas requiring further dialogue and alignment. The paper shows that African and European actors have common interests and that African and European health strategies have shared objectives, notably for global health security, health supply chain diversification and health workforce development. However, financing for health systems remains a hurdle, and the issue of health technology transfer remains contentious – although joint investments by African and European actors in vaccine production capabilities during the pandemic have shown that practical solutions can be found to expand pharmaceutical manufacturing in Africa. Yet, sustainably enhancing access to medicines, vaccines, diagnostic tools and health technologies requires a system approach. Improving access also depends on the strength of community health systems and the sustainable financing of national and regional institutions and regulators. As the pandemic threat recedes, health might move down the list of political priorities. Nevertheless, the principle of equitable access to health, the notion that health spurs sustainable economic development and the established Africa-EU health-related institutional mechanisms, are steps in the right direction towards making the health partnership more resilient and promoting African health sovereignty.
LA - ENG M3 - Discussio paper N2 -The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted Africa-Europe relations and revealed deep inequalities in access to health services, vaccines and treatments. This compelled African and European actors to act, leading to significant political and financial commitments at the AU-EU Summit in 2022. Consequently, the development of African public health institutions and medicines regulatory authorities has accelerated. This paper reviews progress in the AU-EU health partnership and analyses its current direction, identifying converging interests and areas requiring further dialogue and alignment. The paper shows that African and European actors have common interests and that African and European health strategies have shared objectives, notably for global health security, health supply chain diversification and health workforce development. However, financing for health systems remains a hurdle, and the issue of health technology transfer remains contentious – although joint investments by African and European actors in vaccine production capabilities during the pandemic have shown that practical solutions can be found to expand pharmaceutical manufacturing in Africa. Yet, sustainably enhancing access to medicines, vaccines, diagnostic tools and health technologies requires a system approach. Improving access also depends on the strength of community health systems and the sustainable financing of national and regional institutions and regulators. As the pandemic threat recedes, health might move down the list of political priorities. Nevertheless, the principle of equitable access to health, the notion that health spurs sustainable economic development and the established Africa-EU health-related institutional mechanisms, are steps in the right direction towards making the health partnership more resilient and promoting African health sovereignty.
PB - ECDPM PY - 2024 SP - 1 EP - 50 TI - A partnership in progress: Africa and the EU strive for global health and equitable access UR - https://ecdpm.org/application/files/4917/1889/1634/Partnership-Progress-Africa-EU-Strive-Global-Health-Equitable-Access-ECDPM-Discussion-Paper-367-2024.pdf ER -