UNAIDS and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention sign landmark agreement to strengthen community health systems and epidemic preparedness across Africa

NEW YORK, 26 September 2025-UNAIDS and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) have today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly to deepen collaboration in advancing Africa's health security, strengthening community health systems, and ensuring sustainable HIV responses.

"UNAIDS has a major role to play. We are signing this MoU to send a strong message that Africa supports UNAIDS," said Dr. Jean Kaseya, Director-General of Africa CDC. "HIV is still a major public health issue in Africa. Africa CDC is a proud partner of UNAIDS."

"By joining forces, we can strengthen community health workforces, advance local manufacturing, and secure sustainable financing for HIV and broader health services," said Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of UNAIDS. "Together, we are laying the foundation for healthier, more equitable societies across Africa. This MoU is about UNAIDS supporting Africa CDC to build its own feet on the ground and build capacity in the institution to take over and support countries."

The agreement establishes a framework for joint action in areas of mutual interest, including:

• Expanding community health workforces: Supporting the African Union's 2017 Heads of State mandate on the 2 Million Community Health Worker Initiative through training, reskilling, and deployment of polyvalent community health workers in hard-to-reach rural and emergency settings, with targeted outreach to populations most at risk of being left behind.
• Bolstering epidemic and pandemic preparedness: Leveraging UNAIDS' data and technical platforms with Africa CDC's regulatory networks to ensure access to, quality and affordability of HIV commodities, while strengthening Africa's local manufacturing capacity of essential medicines and driving advocacy for technology transfer.
• Ensuring sustainable HIV responses: Supporting African Union Member States to develop and implement sustainability and transition plans embedded in national health financing strategies. This includes expanding domestic revenue mobilization, integrating HIV services into primary health care and national insurance schemes, and exploring diversified funding instruments such as debt relief mechanisms and blended financing.
• Joint project development and resource mobilization: Designing collaborative programmes aligned with the mandates of both institutions, mobilizing resources from partners, and extending technical expertise through staff secondments where beneficial.

The signing of the MoU reflects a shared commitment by UNAIDS and Africa CDC to drive progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, and the vision of a healthier, more resilient continent.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations-UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank-and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.