Leveraging south-south cooperation to achieve the Africa CDC vision

Africa is at a crossroads; more than ever, a plethora of public health challenges continue to retard socioeconomic growth and negatively impact on its health systems. These challenges include emerging and re-emerging communicable diseases, high maternal and child mortality, rising healthcare costs, increasing population risk exposure, weak disease surveillance and response, amongst others.

The COVID-19 pandemic delivered a painful lesson on the need to strengthen health security and build resilient health systems to reduce Africa’s, and indeed the world’s, vulnerability to disease outbreaks and epidemics.

Faced with the urgent need to tackle these challenges and progress towards universal health coverage, African governments have proposed a New Public Health order to ensure that effective health systems exist before a crisis and remain resilient during and post-crisis. To achieve this vision, concerted efforts are being made by the Africa CDC to develop a strategic roadmap with an emphasis on building self-reliance in Africa’s vaccine and pharmaceutical manufacturing industry.

Opportunities for SSC in the public health sector include in areas of disease prevention and control, local manufacturing and production of medical products and essential medicines, laboratory strengthening and diagnostics, harmonization of regulatory processes

In line with this, there has been a growing recognition of the need to leverage respectful, action-oriented, and sustainable global partnerships that promote country ownership and African health priorities. The often unfavourable terms of North-South Cooperation (NSC), amplified by the need for self-determination, solidarity, sustainable home-grown development and more aid effectiveness among countries of the global south has led to strong calls for the development and strengthening of South-South Cooperation (SSC).

South-South Cooperation and why it matters

South-South cooperation refers to the technical cooperation among developing countries in the Global South. It is a tool used by the states, international organizations, academics, civil society and the private sector to collaborate and share knowledge, skills and successful initiatives in specific areas such as agricultural development, human rights, urbanization, health, climate change, etc.

African countries, and indeed countries in the Global South, are at different stages of development. However, similarities exist in their socioeconomic, cultural, and public health contexts. Across the region, many different approaches have been tried over the years, with varying degrees of success. There is a vast body of knowledge on what works and what does not, based on local experiences. To take full advantage of this, collaboration, sharing, and learning across the region must improve.

While North-South Cooperation remains the flagship for health development aid in Africa, it is often fraught with inappropriate technology, lack of understanding of the developing countries context, and lack of equality in partnership, thus calling for increasing horizontal partnerships among countries of the global south. SSC holds significant benefits for the public health sector in Africa, as it can build strong regional networks for sharing practical experiences and knowledge, supporting capacity building among African countries.

Opportunities for South-South Cooperation in Africa CDC vision – Bloom Public Health model

SSC has a critical role to play in achieving the Africa CDC’s vision of strengthening African health systems for better epidemic preparedness and response. Opportunities for SSC in the public health sector include in areas of disease prevention and control, local manufacturing and production of medical products and essential medicines, laboratory strengthening and diagnostics, harmonization of regulatory processes, and health workforce development, amongst others.

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To achieve such partnerships, Bloom Public Health, a thought leader and an indigenous public health think tank in Africa, has been actively facilitating SSC in Africa. In 2022, it brokered a strategic meeting between the Director-General of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) in Pakistan and the Director-General of the National Drug Quality Control and Valuation Laboratory (LANACOME) Cameroon.

The meeting resulted in an initial commitment for an intense collaboration between the two agencies, which was facilitated by Bloom Public Health. Building on this, an MOU between DRAP, Pakistan and LANACOME, Cameroon, that will allow for long-term exchange of technology, knowledge and skills, for the strengthening of Cameroon’s public health sector has just been finalized. This is an outstanding model that other African countries can adopt for future public health interventions on the continent.

Challenges and recommendations to strengthen South-South Cooperation in Africa

Several challenges limit the development of successful SSC initiatives in Africa. Pitfalls such as poor coordination, inadequate political commitment, lack of conducive policy environments, language barrier and inadequate financing opportunities for SSC initiatives present major dilemmas for the use of SSC mechanisms in Africa.

To maximise the potential of SSC in Africa’s public health sector, relevant stakeholders, including government policymakers and their development partners, need to design and implement sustainable policies and systematic approaches that facilitate and optimise the use of SSC initiatives.

Thus, ensuring that they are well coordinated and implemented, and targeted to address long-standing deficiencies in the health sector. There is also a need for the designation of an African Centre of Excellence for SSC in public health and the development of a regional mechanism for monitoring and evaluation of SSC initiatives in Africa.

In conclusion:

A paradigm shift from vertical to horizontal development cooperation needs no further proof but a call to action. African governments need to fully explore the potentials of South-South Cooperation to provide a viable pathway for building resilient, self-reliant and sustainable health systems in Africa.