The financing, endorsed on March 3, comes from the concessional window of the African Development Bank Group and will fund the Resilient Health Systems for Emergency Preparedness Project.
The initiative aims to enhance the resilience of health systems across the region and improve their ability to detect, prevent and respond to public health and nutrition emergencies. SADC countries continue to face recurring challenges, including cholera outbreaks, zoonotic diseases, high malnutrition rates and shortages of trained personnel.
A cornerstone of the project is the training of 449 laboratory technicians, community health workers and trainers, including 269 women. The training will integrate gender considerations, climate adaptation and the One Health approach.
An additional 35 nutrition coordinators, including 21 women, from institutions specialising in nutrition and gender in emergencies, will receive certification. Revised curricula are expected to benefit around 240 students annually, helping to build a sustainable pool of professionals equipped to manage nutrition and gender‑responsive emergency programmes.
The project also includes a substantial infrastructure upgrade. Diagnostic laboratories, wastewater monitoring facilities and environmental surveillance labs in six beneficiary countries will be renovated and equipped. Mozambique’s Instituto Nacional de Saúde will be modernised to serve as a regional reference laboratory, while Lesotho’s national blood bank will be strengthened.
A regional framework for model cross‑border laboratories will be established, alongside a mobile cross‑border lab to be deployed at key border points in Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
“This operation aims to address the persistent fragility of health systems in the SADC, which remain vulnerable to zoonotic outbreaks and cholera epidemics, high malnutrition rates and limited human resources, as well as inadequate emergency preparedness,” said Kennedy Mbekeani, the Bank’s Director General for Southern Africa.
The African Development Fund expects the project to improve early detection of disease outbreaks, enhance regional coordination and contribute to stronger, more resilient health systems across Southern Africa.
–AfDB/ChannelAfrica–
