Africa: Africa's Health Defenses Have Improved but Its Funding Has Not

What the report says

AllAfrica, publishing an Inter Press Service report from Bulawayo on 22 July 2026, says a new Africa Health Security Index finds that African countries have strengthened epidemic and pandemic preparedness since 2021, but still face serious weaknesses in health infrastructure and financing. The report links the findings to recent and current outbreaks, including Ebola in Central Africa, and notes that faster containment of some past disease events has been aided by expanded laboratories, surveillance systems, epidemiology training and emergency operations centres.

According to the article, the 2026 index was developed by the Brown University Pandemic Center and adapted for African conditions from the Global Health Security Index. It assesses areas such as prevention, detection and reporting, rapid response, health system capacity, international norms and risk environment. The report says 52 of Africa’s 54 countries improved, while five of six categories also advanced. Hayley Severance of the Nuclear Threat Initiative said at a briefing that the continent’s average score rose to 41.5 out of 100, reflecting progress but not adequate readiness.

Experts cited by IPS said the main concern is that capacity gains could be undermined by weak funding, insecurity, climate pressures and declining overseas development assistance. Judy Omumbo of the Science for Africa Foundation said the index provides a consistent, data-based way to measure preparedness, while Brown University adviser Wilmot James urged governments to invest more in systems that prevent outbreaks from becoming wider crises.

The report says specialists recommended stronger early-warning surveillance, more biosecurity and biosafety training, faster regulatory pathways for emergency medical tools, and formal cross-border cooperation. It also notes the long-standing Abuja Declaration target for African Union members to spend 15% of national budgets on health, a benchmark most countries have not met.