Who: The African Development Bank Group, Africa CDC and AUDA-NEPAD

What: High-Level Dialogue on Advancing Africa's Health Security and Sovereignty

When: 13 February 2026; 08:30 AM - 12:30 PM EAT (Ministerial session)

14:00 - 16:00 EAT (Heads of State session)

Where: Africa CDC Headquarters (Ministerial session)

Science Museum, Addis Ababa (Heads of States Session)

The African Development Bank Group, in collaboration with Africa CDC and AUDA-NEPAD will convene a high-level dialogue focused on sustainable health financing.

Poor health costs Africa $2.4 trillion every year, undermining productivity, widening inequities, and constraining the continent's economic transformation. Evidence shows that scaling up proven health interventions could increase Africa's GDP growth by 0.5 % annually over 20 years, elevating health from a social sector to a strategic economic investment.

Together, Africa CDC, AfDB, and AUDA-NEPAD are aligning their respective mandates--public health security leadership, financing instruments, and delivery pipeline development--to move Africa from commitments to scaled execution.

The convening will bring leaders to institutionalise a "finance-health approach" that aligns political leadership, financial instruments, and investable pipelines to deliver Africa health security and sovereignty (AHSS) priorities at scale.

A ministerial dialogue on strengthening health financing mechanisms and improving collaboration between finance and health sectors in support of AHSS implementation, will be followed by a closed presidential engagement aligning political leadership around sustainable health financing and continental health priorities.

Accredited journalists and media institutions to the AU summit are encouraged to attend this important event, per the details outlined above. There will be opportunities for one-one interviews with key speakers and experts.