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Ebola and hantavirus have Africa talking ‘health sovereignty’ as donor support fades

A new Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda is driving African governments to accelerate "health sovereignty" initiatives, aiming to reduce dependency on global donors as international support has been slashed in half over the past five years.
Official development assistance dropped sharply from about $26 billion in 2021 to around $13 billion in 2025, while the Trump administration tied new aid to conditional "America First" health deals requiring increased domestic spending.
Africa imports more than 90% of its health commodities, and debt servicing consumes roughly 19% of government revenue in sub-Saharan African countries, forcing officials to seek alternatives as they aim to produce 60% of vaccines by 2040.
Some nations rejected proposed deals over U.S. health data requests; Asia Russell, executive director of Health GAP, warned conditions requiring specific spending targets effectively "set them up to fail."
Initiatives like Ghana's "Accra Reset" aim to strengthen long-term resilience, though Dr. Alex Ajangba warned that "health sovereignty" risks becoming merely a "slogan" unless structural financial issues are addressed.

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