NCD morbidity and mortality are rising faster in Sub-Saharan Africa than in anywhere else in the world. Our regional NCD Financing Accelerator in Sub-Saharan Africa was launched to respond to this crisis and address the clear and urgent need for resilient and sustainable NCD financing in the region.
Sub-Saharan Africa faces a disproportionately high NCD burden—it carries around a quarter of the total global disease burden—yet accounts for only around 1% of global health spending.
In the Sub-Saharan Africa region, people between 30 and 70 years old have a greater than 20% chance of dying from a major NCD.
Health financing in the region is often fragmented, inefficient, and under-resourced.
Available public health resources are heavily focused on communicable diseases, yet NCDs are a major drain on African health and productivity.
While resources in Cameroon have traditionally focused on communicable diseases, growing attention to chronic illness and innovative funding models signal a shift toward more sustainable health financing.
Ghana stands at a pivotal point in its health financing journey, with recent moves to expand its national health insurance benefits package to include NCDs as well as the introduction of a dedicated medical trust fund for NCDs.
Kenya’s devolution of health policy and budgets to 47 counties has opened space for locally driven innovation in financing and managing NCD care.
Malawi is building momentum to expand NCD services at the PHC level. Over the past decade, it has strengthened its NCD policy environment, culminating in the 2023–2030 National Health Financing Strategy.
Rwanda has emerged as a regional leader in the NCDs response through near-universal coverage, performance-based financing, integrated programs, and a strong digital health infrastructure.
Somalia is strengthening its health system and response to NCDs despite years of fragility. Political commitment, community solidarity, and early financing innovations provide a foundation for expanding equitable access to NCD services.
Uganda is relatively new to the health financing space for NCDs, but an energetic civil society and advocacy community is driving the progress on revenue strengthenning, leadership, and workforce capacity.
The African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP) is an African-led, non-profit research and policy institute, established in 2010 to institutionalize a culture of evidence use in the public sector and to bridge the gaps between research, policy, and practice in development efforts in Africa. AFIDEP is registered as a non-governmental organization in Kenya and Malawi, and as a non-profit institution in the USA with 501(c)3 status.
AFIDEP contributes to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals and other development strategies by enabling the use of evidence in the formulation and implementation of development policies and programs.
Regional NCD Financing Accelerators serve as centers of excellence, supporting country-based teams to improve health financing for NCDs.
Behind the Financing Accelerator Network for NCDs is a group of motivated individuals and dedicated organizations that share a desire to help improve the lives of people living in low- and middle-income countries around the world.
By sparking new learnings, responding to country needs and priorities, and connecting global experts and local decision makers, FAN is helping to drive the action needed to close the health financing gap for NCDs in LMICs across Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America & the Caribbean, and Asia Pacific.