Africa’s Health Financing Challenge Is Becoming a Test of Economic Confidence: ECA

Addis Ababa, August 25, 2026 (FMC) — Africa’s health financing challenge is increasingly becoming a test of the continent’s economic confidence, requiring countries to strengthen how they mobilize, manage and account for resources, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) said.

Speaking on behalf of ECA Executive Secretary Claver Gatete at the opening of the 76th Session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa in Addis Ababa, ECA Chief of Staff Aboubakri Diaw said Africa’s health sector faces not only a financing gap but also a confidence gap that must be addressed through stronger financial management and accountability.

“Health is not the responsibility of one ministry alone. It is a whole-of-government priority, a foundation of Africa’s economic transformation,” Diaw said.

He identified three major structural challenges confronting sustainable health financing across the continent: severe fiscal pressures resulting from declining external aid, high out-of-pocket health expenditures that push millions into poverty, and the gap between health strategies and actual budget execution.

Diaw stressed that mobilizing additional resources alone would not resolve these challenges, saying Africa must improve the way it collects, pools, purchases and accounts for health financing.

“Africa’s health sector does not suffer from only a financing gap. It also suffers from a confidence gap, and confidence, unlike capital, cannot be borrowed—it must be built,” he said.

He called for nationally owned health-financing compacts that align national priorities with appropriate financial instruments, while emphasizing real-time digital tracking and data transparency as essential to attracting private investment and strengthening accountability.

Diaw also highlighted the potential of digital transformation and artificial intelligence to improve public-finance management, commending Ethiopia’s efforts to advance digital health solutions.

“Digital health is not simply about replacing paper with screens. It is about replacing fragmentation with visibility, replacing leakage with accountability, and replacing uncertainty with trust,” he said.

He said Ethiopia could demonstrate how digital identity, interoperable health information, real-time expenditure tracking and AI-enabled decision-making can strengthen both health outcomes and fiscal accountability.

Invoking the historical significance of the Adwa Victory Memorial, where the session was opened, Diaw said the spirit of Adwa represents African dignity, agency and determination to shape the continent’s own future.

He reaffirmed ECA’s commitment to working with WHO, the African Union and national governments to ensure that universal health coverage contributes to lasting economic stability across Africa.

“Universal health coverage becomes real the day seeking care stops costing a family its future,” he said.

Diaw concluded by underscoring the broader economic value of health investment, saying, “Health is not what we spend when Africa grows; health is how Africa grows.”