Day: July 8, 2025

African Cities Advance Fiscal Reforms to Boost Development

African Cities Advance Fiscal Reforms to Boost Development

On July 8, 2025, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, six African cities—Nairobi, Lusaka, Addis Ababa, Dar es Salaam, Kigali, and Yaoundé—highlighted progress in fiscal reforms under the DA-15 project, a collaborative effort by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), UN-Habitat, and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF). The initiative, discussed at a side event during the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville, aims to strengthen urban financial systems to support the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063.

Nairobi’s Deputy Governor James Muchiri reported a revenue increase of one billion shillings last year, following a similar rise the year prior. Lusaka’s Mayor Chilando Chitangala emphasized improved revenue collection and accountability systems to address longstanding leakages. The DA-15 project conducted financial assessments, identifying gaps in revenue, expenditure, and investment planning while highlighting reform opportunities.

ECA’s Fiscal Space Performance and Monitoring Dashboard, a digital tool, enables cities to track real-time fiscal indicators like liquidity and revenue efficiency, promoting transparency and informed decision-making. Hana Morsy, ECA’s Deputy Executive Secretary, underscored its role in enhancing accountability and fiscal health.

Both Nairobi and Lusaka stressed the importance of local capacity and political will. Muchiri aims to reduce reliance on central government transfers by building robust revenue systems, while Chitangala hopes to share Lusaka’s gains with other Zambian cities. Morsy urged governments and partners to invest in local financial systems, positioning cities as leaders rather than beneficiaries. Atkeyelsh Persson, ECA’s Chief of Urbanization and Development, emphasized scaling these capacity gains to other cities across Kenya, Zambia, and beyond.

July 8, 2025
Malawi Unveils Updated Pathogen Genomic Surveillance Strategy.

Malawi Unveils Updated Pathogen Genomic Surveillance Strategy

Malawi Launches Second Edition of Pathogen Genomic Surveillance Strategy and Implementation Plan The Malawi Ministry of Health has launched its updated plan for implementation of its Genomic Surveillance Strategy, produced with technical support from the Africa CDC – Africa PGILILONGWE, Malawi, July 8, 2025 The Malawi Ministry of Health, launched its updated plan for the implementation of its Genomic Surveillance Strategy that was produced with technical support from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention – Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative (Africa PGI) on 3 July. As pathogen genomics provides a powerful approach towards the investigation, management, and surveillance of infectious diseases, the plan is geared to include integration of multi-pathogen genomic surveillance into existing public health systems, research and development. The second version of the plan is aligned to Africa CDC Pathogen Genomics Surveillance Policy Framework and identified priority list of pathogens and use cases for genomic surveillance in Malawi and the region. The strategy has a robust, comprehensive, fully integrated, harmonized and well-coordinated mechanisms to guide monitoring of the implementation of the plan and evaluate impact. The improved plan has a National Genomics Committee comprising of a steering committee, advisory group and laboratories from public, private and academia. The first genomic strategy was launched in 2023 and runs to 2030In his opening remarks, Secretary for Health Dr. Samsom Kwazirira Mndolo emphasized the critical role of genomics in monitoring antimicrobial resistance, disease outbreak detection, response and prevention as well in precision medicine. He underscored the role of the plan as a roadmap for implementing a robust one health genomic surveillance system across the country with different multi stakeholders, ministries and partners.“We have been front runners in genomics, but we lost the opportunity to learn from others, so we decided to revisit and update the 2023 plan,” said Dr Mndolo.“This moment marks the dawn of a new era, where science, innovation, and determination converge to build a stronger, more resilient health system for all starting from Malawi by leveraging genomic sequencing power to identify and track pathogens enabling early detection, tracking and characterization of pathogens,” said Dr Lul Riek, Director for the Southern Africa Regional Coordinating Centre. Dr Riek said by integrating pathogen genomic sequencing into its healthcare infrastructure, it aims to enhance its health security and swiftly respond to emerging and reemerging threats effectively. “This makes Malawi one step ahead of other countries in disease detection and response,” he said.“In the face of several emerging and reemerging health threats including Disease X ” a hypothetical emerging pathogen, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the resurgence of Mpox, Marburg, Cholera and other epidemics, we have witnessed firsthand the urgent need for resilient public health surveillance systems that can provide timely and actionable data,” said Dr Francis Chikuse, Senior Technical Officer for Public Health at Africa CDC.“The National Multi Pathogen Genomic Surveillance Strategy is not just a response to these challenges but a proactive step toward building a robust system that leverages the power of molecular diagnostics and sequencing to safeguard the health of the of Malawians and beyond,” said Dr Chikuse.He said, Africa CDC in partnership with public, private and philanthropic sectors is enhancing continent-wide sample referral and data sharing strategy, systems, and governance to promote trusted, quality assured and timely data sharing as well as support the design and pilot implementation of high-impact public health priority genomic surveillance and use-cases and facilitate the utility of genomics data for policy, decision making, research and development of pandemic materials. In 2025, the World Health Assembly adopted the historic Pandemic Agreement to enhance global collaboration and to create a more equitable response to future pandemics.Africa CDC is working with 16 Member States including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Malawi, Zambia, Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Morocco, Togo, South Africa, Tanzania, Rwanda, Namibia, to develop their national pathogen genomics strategies. Through this collaboration, Malawi becomes the second country after Zambia to launch their genomic strategy.

July 8, 2025

Day: July 8, 2025

African Cities Advance Fiscal Reforms to Boost Development

Malawi Unveils Updated Pathogen Genomic Surveillance Strategy.

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