By Muhammad Amaan
The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) said the continent must seize control of its health future or risk permanent economic vulnerability.
UN Under-Secretary at the ECA, Mr Claver Gatete issued this warning in a statement on Sunday by the Communications Section of ECA, at the ongoing African Union Summit.
Addressing Heads of State in Addis Ababa, Gatete said global upheaval demanded Africa treat health as strategic economic infrastructure.
“We meet at a moment when the international system itself is being re-ordered. The era of hyper-globalisation is giving way to an era of strategic resilience,” he said.
According to him, health is no longer a social service but a pillar of national security, productivity and competitiveness.
“Health shocks quickly became economic shocks, and economic shocks became development setbacks,” he warned.
Mr Gatete revealed development assistance for health has fallen from about 80 billion dollars in 2021 to roughly 39 billion dollars in 2025.
Meanwhile, Africa spends about 145 billion dollars annually on health, yet governments finance less than half.
Households, he said, shouldered crushing out-of-pocket costs, forcing families to sell assets and withdraw children from school.
“These are not only social but macroeconomic consequences,” he stressed.
He described Africa’s heavy import dependence for medicines as structurally unsustainable and economically dangerous.
“It is unacceptable that a continent of over 1.5 billion people produces only a small share of the medicines it consumes,” he said.
Gatete added that with fewer than a thousand pharmaceutical manufacturers serving the continent, supply disruptions remained a constant threat.
He insisted no country can build competitive pharmaceutical production alone.
He pointed to the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as indispensable for pooled procurement and regional value chains.
“Through regulatory harmonisation and regional integration, AfCFTA can become a health security instrument,” he said.
He announced a financing support proposal, developed with the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, will be presented to African finance ministers in Morocco next month.
“Health sovereignty cannot be achieved by ministries of health alone,” he declared. He said finance, trade, industry and planning authorities must coordinate.
Gatete outlined four priorities: predictable health financing, stronger domestic resource mobilisation, pharmaceutical production, and resilient delivery systems.
“Laboratories, surveillance systems and digital platforms must be treated like ports and power plants.
“Health security is national security, and a healthy workforce is the foundation of economic transformation,” he stated.
Posing a stark choice to leaders, he said: “Will we remain consumers in the global health system, or become producers within it?
“Health sovereignty is ultimately a question of economic sovereignty.”
Gatete reaffirmed the ECA’s readiness to support member states with evidence-based analysis and implementation partnerships.
“The choices we make now will determine whether Africa participates in the global health economy or remains dependent on it,” he said.
