Lusaka, Zambia · 27 August 2025 — African health ministers concluded the 75th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa with urgent pledges to accelerate progress against malaria and strengthen the continent's health workforce, as new data revealed that the region is at serious risk of missing the 2030 targets of the Global Technical Strategy for malaria.
The meeting, held in Lusaka from 25 to 27 August 2025, brought together health ministers and senior officials from 47 WHO African Region Member States. It served as a critical platform for addressing the most pressing public health challenges facing the continent, with malaria control and health system resilience dominating the agenda.
Stalled Malaria Progress
The data presented at the session painted a sobering picture. Since 2015, malaria cases in the WHO African Region have declined by only 5% and mortality by 16% — falling dramatically short of the 75% reduction milestone originally set for 2025 under the Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016–2030.
The African Region bears the heaviest malaria burden globally, accounting for approximately 95% of malaria cases and 96% of malaria deaths worldwide. Children under five years of age are particularly vulnerable, representing about 78% of all malaria deaths in the region.
Despite the introduction of malaria vaccines — both RTS,S/AS01 and R21/Matrix-M — into routine immunization programs in an increasing number of countries, overall progress against the disease has not kept pace with population growth, climate-driven changes in mosquito distribution, and persistent funding gaps.
Ministerial Commitments
To accelerate progress, ministers agreed on several priority initiatives:
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Strengthening local institutional capacity to improve health system resilience, including the ability to anticipate and respond to health threats before they escalate into emergencies.
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Enhancing supply chains for malaria commodities, addressing persistent stockouts of essential medicines, rapid diagnostic tests, and insecticide-treated bed nets that undermine program effectiveness.
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Increasing domestic financing for malaria programs to reduce dependence on external aid — a particularly urgent priority given the contraction of international health funding in 2025.
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Prioritizing health workforce development, with specific emphasis on training and retaining skilled health workers, including community health workers who extend the reach of healthcare services to remote and underserved populations.
Health Workforce and System Strengthening
A central theme of the 75th Regional Committee was the necessity of building resilient health systems. Discussions identified strong health systems as essential to tackling both endemic diseases like malaria and emerging threats such as antimicrobial resistance.
Health leaders emphasized the critical need to train and retain skilled health workers, with specific mention of the importance of community health workers in extending the reach of healthcare services. The WHO African Region faces a projected shortage of 5.3 million health workers by 2030, according to prior WHO assessments, making workforce investment a matter of existential urgency for the continent's health security.
The meeting also highlighted the need for:
- Harmonization of public health regulations across the continent to improve health security and facilitate the regional manufacturing of health commodities
- Embedding resilience into core service delivery rather than treating emergency preparedness as a separate, add-on function
- Investment in surveillance systems that can detect and track both endemic and emerging health threats in real time
Beyond Malaria: A Broad Health Agenda
While malaria and workforce issues dominated the headlines, the 75th Regional Committee addressed a broad range of public health topics:
- Universal health coverage — strategies to expand access to essential health services without financial hardship
- Oral health action plan — acceleration of a regional oral health initiative addressing a historically neglected area
- Sexual and reproductive health — initiatives to improve access to services, particularly for adolescents and women in underserved communities
- Antimicrobial resistance — regional coordination to address the growing threat of drug-resistant infections
The Vaccine Rollout Continues
The Regional Committee discussions occurred against the backdrop of ongoing malaria vaccine rollout across the continent. By 2025, additional African countries had introduced malaria vaccines into their routine childhood immunization programs, expanding beyond the initial pilot countries of Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi.
Both RTS,S/AS01 and R21/Matrix-M vaccines are being deployed concurrently to meet high demand. The R21/Matrix-M vaccine, which received WHO prequalification following successful Phase 3 trial results published in The Lancet in early 2024, has been critical in closing the supply-demand gap. Post-marketing studies published in The Lancet Global Health in late 2025 would confirm that the real-world effectiveness of these vaccines matches or exceeds expectations from clinical trials.
However, ministers at the Lusaka meeting acknowledged that vaccines alone cannot solve the malaria challenge. The highest impact is achieved when vaccines are delivered as part of a comprehensive strategy that includes vector control (insecticide-treated bed nets, indoor residual spraying), prompt diagnosis, and effective treatment.
A Continent at a Crossroads
The 75th WHO Regional Committee for Africa took place at a pivotal moment for global health. The contraction of international development assistance, particularly from the United States, has forced a fundamental rethinking of how health programs in Africa are financed and sustained.
The WHO Regional Office for Africa reported that throughout the first eight months of 2025, it had responded to more than 21 public health emergencies across the region, including ongoing outbreaks of cholera in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Malawi; mpox in 15 countries; and measles and dengue flare-ups in densely populated urban centers. This high volume of simultaneous emergencies underscored the urgency of the resilience agenda discussed in Lusaka.
Sources
- WHO Regional Office for Africa, 75th Session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa, Lusaka, Zambia, 25–27 August 2025 —
- RBM Partnership to End Malaria, "75th WHO Regional Committee for Africa: Health Ministers pledge to accelerate malaria progress," August 2025 —
- WHO, Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016–2030 —
- WHO, World Malaria Report 2024 —
- Africa Health Watch, coverage of the 75th WHO Regional Committee for Africa, August 2025 —
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Institutional Research Desk · Foresight Institute of Research and Translation
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