The African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and the END Fund today signed a memorandum of understanding creating a strategic partnership to control and eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) across African Union Member States.
The signing took place on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly, at a high-level strategy circle hosted by AUDA-NEPAD with partners of the Programme for Investment and Financing in Africa’s Health (PIFAH). Titled From Cost to Capital: Financing Africa’s Health Sovereignty, the event gathered heads of state, health and finance ministers, regional and multilateral institutions, development finance institutions, philanthropic organisations and private-sector leaders.
The discussions were shaped by a fast-changing global health financing landscape, in which cuts to development assistance, fiscal pressure and shifting geopolitical priorities are reducing the resources available to African health systems. Participants explored how Africa can stop viewing health spending only as a cost and treat it as an investment in resilience, productivity, development and long-term prosperity. They also looked at expanding domestic resource mobilisation, innovative and blended finance, private investment and other sustainable funding mechanisms.
Guy Cave, Interim CEO of the END Fund, joined a panel at the event, where he discussed what has fundamentally changed in global health financing, what it demands of Africa, and how to protect and accelerate progress against NTDs.
“Today’s MOU signing formalises our shared commitment to African ownership, country leadership and sustainable financing for the elimination of neglected tropical diseases,” said Guy Cave. “This partnership comes at a critical moment, as African leaders and their partners confront a fundamentally different global health financing reality. The END Fund is honored to work alongside AUDA-NEPAD and partners across the continent to mobilise resources, strengthen country-led programmes and accelerate Africa’s extraordinary progress towards ending NTDs.”
Under the agreement, the two organisations will develop strategic partnerships and mobilise resources for NTD programmes, strengthen country-led implementation, and advance policy dialogue and high-level advocacy. The partnership will also encourage knowledge exchange, evidence generation and coordination among Member States, regional institutions, philanthropic organisations, technical agencies and civil society.
Said Nardos Bekele-Thomas, CEO of AUDA-NEPAD, “Health is not a cost to be managed, but an investment in Africa’s resilience, productivity and prosperity. Today’s strategy circle highlighted the need to mobilise more sustainable and innovative financing, strengthen country-led systems and build the partnerships needed to translate this agenda into action. Our agreement with the END Fund is a practical expression of that shared commitment, bringing our respective strengths together to help sustain and accelerate Africa’s progress towards ending NTDs.”
The partnership builds on significant progress across the continent. Twenty-six African countries have now eliminated at least one NTD as a public health problem. Some have eliminated several: Ghana has eliminated three, while Togo has eliminated four, the first country in the world to do so.
Shifting financing conditions, however, could slow or even reverse these gains. Innovative and sustainable financing, integrated systems and sustained political leadership will be essential to protect this progress and meet the targets of the World Health Organization’s road map on NTDs.
The strategy circle and the new partnership reflect a growing recognition that lasting health progress depends on new models of cooperation, African-led investment priorities and coordinated action among governments, regional bodies, donors, philanthropy, civil society and the private sector. By combining continental political leadership, country-led action and catalytic financing, the partnership aims to turn shared ambition into measurable progress towards eliminating NTDs.