The United States Government is proud to work in partnership with governments and institutions in Africa, including the African Union (AU) and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), to advance shared public health goals. As we continue to work to end the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, we remain committed to strengthening health systems and institutions; advancing global health security; combatting HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis; advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights, and maternal, neonatal, and child health; closing gaps in nutrition and non-communicable diseases; and accelerating efforts to achieve universal health coverage and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Advancing health equity, including gender equity and equality, are priorities for the Biden-Harris Administration, and are integrated throughout our global health programs, including through direct provision of health services to women, girls, and LGBTQI+ populations.
Since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration, the United States has invested and committed to provide nearly $20 billionin health programs in the Africa region. This includes nearly $11.5 billion to address HIV/AIDS; more than $2 billion to combat malaria; more than $2 billion in support of family planning and reproductive health as well as maternal and child health; and more than $2 billion to address the health, humanitarian, and economic impacts of COVID-19. These bilateral programs complement significant U.S. investments in multilateral organizations that provide substantial support to improving health outcomes in Africa, such as the World Health Organization; Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria; the United Nations Population Fund, and the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, among others.
U.S. investments and partnerships on health in Africa have saved millions of lives, strengthened health systems, and made Africa and the world better prepared for current and future health security threats. Thanks to sustained partnership and investment, maternal and child mortality and malaria mortality across the continent have declined dramatically. U.S. investments in Fiscal Year 2021 alone enabled the provision of family planning and reproductive health services to 15.4 million African women, averting 4.7 million unintended pregnancies and preventing 10,780 maternal deaths. In the last twenty years, PEPFAR has saved more than 25 million lives, prevented millions of HIV infections, and helped countries build a strong foundation to prevent, detect, and respond to other health threats.
U.S. intensive health security investments and partnership across fourteen countries on the continent have yielded progress in biosafety and biosecurity capacity, zoonotic disease capacity, surveillance systems, national laboratory systems, emergency preparedness, and emergency response operations. In 2021 alone, the United States and African nations …….