Africa has faced recurrent and complex public health emergencies from the HIV/AIDS epidemic to Ebola spillovers, COVID-19, Mpox, and the ongoing cholera outbreaks of 2025. These crises have shown that medical and technical capacities alone are insufficient without strong, rights-based legal frameworks to ensure timely, coordinated, and equitable responses. Yet, across the continent, significant legal preparedness gaps persist including weak provisions for rapid resource mobilisation, inadequate cross-border coordination, and limited integration of community structures and humanitarian actors into emergency response systems.
This side event will convene Member State legal representatives, Regional Economic Communities and partners and will provide a platform for African Union Member States to reflect on progress made in strengthening legal preparedness, share experiences and lessons learned, and provide recommendations to advance Africa CDC’s legal preparedness for health security. The session will feature technical presentations, panel discussions, and interactive dialogues designed to foster collaboration and collective action.
By focusing on the Africa context, the session will showcase regional leadership and innovation in translating global legal and policy commitments into actionable, country-level frameworks that strengthen PHC systems, advance UHC, and strengthen Primary Health Care and build self-reliant health Systems for Universal Health Coverage and Health Security in Africa.