The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has called for increased investment in immunisation, warning that weak funding continues to undermine Africa’s health security and economic stability.

Tolbert Nyenswah, the director for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and Response at Africa CDC, made the call on Thursday during the agency’s weekly high-level press briefing for epidemiological week 16.

Mr Nyenswah said immunisation remained one of the most cost-effective health interventions, noting that every dollar invested yields returns of up to $40.

He warned that underinvestment in immunisation costs Africa between $20 billion and $30 billion annually, stressing that the “price of inaction is far greater than the cost of prevention”.

According to him, immunisation is not an expenditure, but a strategic investment in Africa’s health sovereignty and security.

In addition to immunisation financing, Nyenswah highlighted key continental health initiatives.

They include the launch of the Continental Immunisation Strategy at the World Health Summit Regional Meeting in Nairobi, aimed at closing equity gaps, reaching zero-dose children, and strengthening primary healthcare systems.

He also noted progress in health financing reforms through a ministerial dialogue and the establishment of an African High-Level Ministerial Committee on Global Health Architecture Reform.

According to him, Africa CDC has strengthened its partnership with the Africa Frontline First initiative to scale up community health workforce development across the continent.

He said the initiative was critical to strengthening primary healthcare systems and improving preparedness against public health emergencies.

He further said that Africa CDC had intensified engagement with private-sector actors, including Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote, to boost local pharmaceutical manufacturing and build more resilient health systems.

He said the collaboration underscored the importance of Africa-led partnerships in advancing long-term health security across the continent.

On outbreak response, Mr Nyenswah said Africa CDC had deployed teams to support health authorities in South Sudan following reports of a suspected viral haemorrhagic fever in Kapoeta East County. He said initial laboratory tests for Ebola, Marburg, yellow fever and Lassa fever returned negative.

He, however, said that surveillance and response efforts remained active due to the risk of cross-border spread and limited access to healthcare in affected areas.

He said the Africa CDC director-general was expected to visit South Sudan to assess capacity gaps and strengthen ongoing response operations.

Providing an epidemiological update, he said cholera, measles, mpox, Lassa fever and diphtheria remained the top public health threats across the continent.

He said cholera had been reported in 15 member states, with 38,603 cases and 858 deaths, accounting for a significant share of the global mortality burden.

He said measles cases had exceeded 78,000 across 21 countries, while mpox continues to spread across 15 active member states. According to him, mpox surveillance data show 217 suspected and 181 confirmed cases in epidemiological week 16, with recent re-emergence reported in Mauritius.

He said that Madagascar, Guinea, Kenya and Liberia accounted for the majority of recent confirmed mpox cases. According to him, more than 2.97 million people have been vaccinated against mpox, with over 5.08 million vaccine doses delivered to 19 countries.

He said that coordinated continental action was urgently required to curb ongoing outbreaks and strengthen health systems’ resilience.

He reaffirmed Africa CDC’s commitment to supporting member states through stronger surveillance, improved immunisation coverage, emergency response capacity, and sustainable health financing reforms.

(NAN)