The African Development Bank Group and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) aimed at scaling up Bank Group investments in maternal health, human capital development and demographic resilience, on the sidelines of the Bank Group's 2026 Annual Meetings.
African Development Bank Group President Sidi Ould Tah and Diene Keita, Executive Director of UNFPA, signed the agreement which aims to expand opportunities for women and youth as key drivers of economic activity, while strengthening health systems across the continent.
The MOU, which builds on one signed in 1992, will support Bank Group implementation of the Four Cardinal Points, President Ould Tah's strategic vision. The third Cardinal Point focuses on transforming Africa's youth demographics into a dividend.
"Through their renewed partnership, the African Development Bank and the United Nations Population Fund are demonstrating that economic growth and human rights are not mutually exclusive, but rather two sides of the same coin," said President Ould Tah. "By combining the African Development Bank's expertise with the United Nations Population Fund's extensive presence in community health systems, we will be able to scale up efforts to improve women's health and protection," he added
Areas of collaboration will include digital training for health workers, strengthening local procurement systems, upgrading climate-resilient health infrastructure, and supporting digitisation of health information systems.
UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, works to uphold the rights and choices of women, girls and young people across more than 150 countries and territories. The agreement also advances UNFPA's 2026-2029 Strategic Plan.
"This renewed partnership reflects our shared commitment to put maternal health and human capital development at the heart of Africa's economic transformation agenda," Keita said.
"Immense opportunity is within Africa's grasp if we make strategic investments in women and young people. Economic progress for Africa is only possible if we prioritise women's health and address one of the continent's most pressing development challenges: preventable maternal deaths," she added.
For more than three decades, the partnership between the African Development Bank Group and UNFPA has enhanced health systems and advanced data-driven development across Africa. Notable examples of this collaboration include modernising population data systems in Côte d'Ivoire's most recent census to improve projections on fertility, mortality and migration; as well as expanding access to emergency obstetric and newborn care across 11 health districts in Cameroon, which lifted antenatal care coverage to 90 percent in targeted areas.
The two entities have also collaborated to link water, sanitation and hygiene with reproductive health and gender through behaviour-change campaigns in rural Madagascar, among other projects.
The 2026 Annual Meetings--taking place in Brazzaville from 25-29 May--with about three thousand participants engaging in person and online, are being convened under the theme, "Mobilising Africa's Development Financing at Scale in a Fragmented World."
