Future of Health and Economic Resiliency in Africa
FHERA aims to provide a forum for robust research and dialogue to transform Africa into a global powerhouse through a sustained focus on health and economic resiliency.
The African Union, through its Africa 2063 agenda, provided a transformational strategy, operational framework, and blueprint for transforming Africa into a global powerhouse in the future. The Initiative for the Future of Health and Economic Resiliency in Africa (FHERA) was introduced in line with this shared vision for Africa.
FHERA, implemented in collaboration with The Lancet, aims to provide a forum for robust intellectual inquiry, research, and knowledge to inform dialogues, policy, and actions by individuals, communities, and countries to shape the future of health and economic resiliency for Africa.
It will galvanize the intellectual resources that the African continent has in academia, policy and practice for impact, and the public and private sectors, as well as across the diaspora. In order to achieve FHERA’s overall goals, strong collaboration and ownership of the effort will be required from African scientists, policymakers, global experts, and institutions.
Our Work
The continental vision by the Africa Union Agenda 2063 has led to the development of a transformational strategy and operational framework that represents a blueprint for transforming Africa into a global powerhouse in the future. However, the African aspirations of achieving high standards of living, quality of life and well-being, healthy and well-nourished, educated and innovative citizens under this effort remain unrealized, and the associated flagship programs under Africa 2063 have had a slow start 10-years into the 50-year horizon. In the current global system, the African continent is clearly left behind and remains at the periphery of global priority setting and focus. This is evident politically, economically, and in terms of health risks and response to the pandemic, including vaccine distribution, which has reached only 7% in Africa even as many donor countries are awash in unadministered doses. The African experience with the COVID-19 pandemic further exposed key vulnerabilities for the continent. This experience has only emphasized the necessity of accelerating the pace of progress and regaining lost ground on the continent.
Renewed African perspectives, finding African-led solutions, and rethinking and reimagining a different future for health and economic resiliency in Africa is important. It also requires facilitated discourse, research and difficult conversations within Africa and amongst scholars of various disciplines, reviewing the past, and reflecting on the current state. It is these observations that have informed the idea to constitute a forward-looking flagship, The Initiative on the Future of Health and Economic Resiliency in Africa, which will be undertaken in collaboration with The Lancet journal.
The aim of the Initiative is to provide a forum for robust intellectual inquiry, research, and knowledge generation that will serve as a foundation for informed dialogues, policies and action by individuals, communities, and countries to shape the future of health and economic resiliency, in line with the vision for Africa 2063. This will be achieved through convening a) core panel of experts from academia, practitioners, and policymakers, to lead thinking around the priorities for intervention, b) relevant thematic task forces and technical secretariats to undertake analyses and synthesis, and c) disseminating the key findings of the Initiative through peer-reviewed publications in The Lancet and strategic public communication engagements. Through these actions, the Initiative will influence the actions of global, regional and national actors to shape the emergence of a better future for health.
Members
The Initiative on the Future of Health and Economic Resiliency in Africa is led by a core panel of experts from academia, practitioners, and policymakers. Technical secretariats are organized by location and thematic group and oversee the administration of FHERA. The advisory board was convened with experts to provide counsel to the core panel.
Core Panel
Technical Secretariat
Working Groups
Members of the Future for Health and Economic Resilience in Africa Commission are organized into working groups focused on specific thematic areas:
Decolonizing global public health by reshaping the African narrative towards autonomy and self-reliance.
This working group is led by public health historian Prof. Jesse Bump at Harvard University, in collaboration with several African historical and sociological researchers.
Citizens’ voices: Pan African research network central to collecting data on public attitudes on economic, political, and social matters.
FHERA will analyze findings from the Afrobarometer surveys on health, social protection and other topics. This work will be instrumental in understanding the perspectives and priorities of the African population.
Policy Lab on PHC revitalization and hospital systems in Africa.
The policy lab is to be jointly led by HSPH and WHO AFRO to examine critical issues in the pandemic era affecting primary health care, hospital and peri-operative systems in the African countries. It will seek to explore issues around the expansion of these services and what must happen to transform the quality of these services for the continent. The initial outcomes and recommendations from the policy lab will be elevated as action points for senior leaders in the continent.
Reimagining health systems (domestic financing and human resources for health).
This working group is led by Brookings Institution and HSPH. At Brookings, the work is led by Dr. Aloysius Ordu in collaboration with colleagues from key institutions with expertise in health financing including Dr. Agnes Soucat, Dr. Kelechi Ohiri and Dr. Patricia Geli. The working group focuses on approaches to increasing government health expenditures and innovative financing for health. The aim is to shift focus from reliance on donor funding and seek alternative funding for the health sector and consider the nexus of fragility-security-health and implications of national fiscal spaces.
Future of public health.
This work will be led by the Africa CDC and focuses on reimagining the future for health on the continent in line with the previously outlined vision of a new public health order. It will focus on recommendations for strategic engagement of the African diaspora and public health and science leadership in the continent, complementary to other similar global efforts, including those supported by BMGF and others.
Public health workforce capacity.
This working group is jointly led through collaborations between the ARISE Network including leading universities and public health institutions in Africa; Africa CDC; Association of Schools of Public Health in Africa; and the Africa Region of the World Bank. Key contributors include Dr. Wafaie Fawzi, Harvard, Dr. Raji Tajudeen, Africa CDC; Dr. Justine Bukenya, Makerere University; Dr. Derege Kebede, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; and, Dr. Henry Mwambi, University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. The focus of the working group is on how to address issues of public health capacity on the continent including issues of brain drain, and the development of effective public health practitioners.
Demographic dynamics, gender and reproductive health.
This working group will be led by Prof. Awa Coll Seck, to focus on identifying key recommendations for addressing many of the key challenges for women, reproductive health and the youthful African population. Addressing these fundamental issues is critical for enhancing the health of the African continent.
Nutrition and food systems.
This working group is led by Dr. Wafaie Fawzi from Harvard University and focuses on understanding the role and innovative approaches to utilizing food systems to improve nutrition and health for women and children on the African continent. For example, it has a keen interest to make actionable recommendations for decreasing food loss and waste which contributes to the lower availability of perishable foods and nutrients on the African continent, contributing to persistently high levels of wasting and stunting among children, as well as adolescent and maternal malnutrition.
Climate change and health.
This working group is led by Prof. Kiros Berhane (Columbia University). It focuses on understanding the impacts of climate change on health and fragility in the African continent. This is an important area where capacity on the African continent is yet to be fully developed and the group will make recommendations.
Sahel.
This is to be led by Prof. Ibrahim Abubakar (Dean UCL), Prof. Samba Sow (CVD, Mali), Prof. Awa Coll Seck, and Muhammad Pate, and will focus on studying and making recommendations to address critical cross-disciplinary issues of the Sahel region including state fragility, conflict, repeated extreme weather events, culture and gender.
African Continental Free Trade Area and trade in health services.
This working group will be led by Dr. Stephen Karingi (ECA), Soji Adeyi and focuses on the barriers to trade in health services on the continent. It will make recommendations to redress the gap in the AfCTA which has a lacuna on trade in health.
Unlocking the market potential of the health sector and digitization.
This working group is led by Dr. Kelechi Ohiri (HSDF) and includes the African Development Bank. It will develop recommendations and strategies for unleashing the market potential of the health sector across the value chain, and accordingly design a continent initiative for the private sector.
Regulatory framework for health in Africa.
This working group is co-led by Dr. Muhammad Pate, Dr. Karima Ladhani at Harvard, and Minister Coll Seck, at the request of President Macky Sall. The group convened the roundtable on June 10 and is now developing a forum for leaders and executives of health regulatory agencies in Africa, in collaboration with BMGF colleagues.
Research and development.
The working group is to be led by Dr. Tumani Corrah, co-President of the Africa Research Excellence Fund (AREF), Banjul, The Gambia and will work to identify key strategies to strengthen health research on the African continent.