African leaders in Addis Ababa call for greater health financing and self-reliance
Leaders at the WHO Regional Committee for Africa meeting in Addis Ababa urged African countries to strengthen domestic health financing, local production and emergency preparedness.
In short
- Leaders at the WHO Regional Committee for Africa meeting in Addis Ababa urged African countries to strengthen domestic health financing, local production and emergency preparedness.
African leaders meeting in Addis Ababa on August 25, 2026, called for stronger domestic health financing and greater local production as the continent faces volatile external funding, disease outbreaks, climate pressures and conflict-related disruption.
President Taye Atske-Selassie told the 76th session of the World Health Organization Regional Committee for Africa that African countries need greater capacity to finance, produce and set their own health priorities. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus separately said stronger health sovereignty, self-reliance and solidarity could reduce dependence on external financing.
Ethiopia’s Health Minister Mekdes Daba used the meeting to report progress in health coverage, domestic production of health products and emergency preparedness. The claims were presented by Ethiopian officials during the regional gathering and were reported by Fana Broadcasting Corporate; the source items did not provide detailed figures that would allow an independent assessment of the reported gains.
The meeting places health financing and supply resilience at the centre of a wider debate over how African health systems can sustain essential services when donor funding and global supply chains are uncertain.
