A total of 47 African states agreed today to mobilize more resources to strengthen the response to health emergencies on the continent, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which is holding its 72nd Regional Committee for Africa in Togo. 

"Covid-19 was a wake-up call for the African continent to prioritize building resilient health systems capable of delivering quality health care and responding to public health emergencies," WHO Africa Director Matshidiso Moeti stressed at a press conference in Lomé, Togo's capital. 

"There is increasing recognition of the growing threat that public health emergencies pose to economies and societies around the world, underscoring the need for a joint approach and investment in their prevention and preparedness," Moeti added to Lusa. 

African states have agreed to provide sustainable financial means to ensure health security, and be able to respond effectively to public health emergencies within 24 hours of detection, as well as to equip at least 80% of their districts or regions with reliable health service delivery programs. 

"This strategy is the result of extensive talks with African ministries of health and many other institutions, technical players and partners across the continent," she said. 

Uganda's Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng welcomed the pan-African agreement and, at the same press conference, noted her country's willingness to share its experience in containing numerous health emergencies, such as the Ebola and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF, a contagious disease usually transmitted by tick bites) pandemics. 

According to Aceng, Uganda has managed to reasonably effectively control the covid-19 pandemic, thanks to lessons learned in recent years, although "the disease has saturated, just as it has saturated health systems around the world," the country's health response capacity. 

Africa is the continent with the most public health emergencies, with more than a hundred per year, according to the WHO. 

Before the appearance of covid-19, the most recurrent pandemics on the African continent were diseases such as cholera, measles, yellow fever, meningococcal meningitis, influenza, and viral hemorrhagic fevers, all of which could be prevented with routine immunization. 

According to the WHO, Africa needs up to $4 billion a year to meet its basic health security needs and to prepare for a possible future pandemic.