Africa CDC warns groups over disease outbreak funds

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has said it will blacklist any organisation that does not properly account for funds meant for disease outbreak responses in Africa.

The agency also said that partners must operate with transparency and accountability when managing outbreak funds.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is the public health agency of the African Union. It aims to improve disease surveillance, emergency preparedness, and response across the continent.

Responding to outbreaks usually needs money from governments, international donors, and humanitarian partners. This funding supports activities like surveillance, lab testing, medical supplies, contact tracing, and other emergency actions.

Clear reporting on how these funds are received and spent is critical. This helps governments coordinate their response efforts, find funding gaps, and ensure that resources get to the communities that need them.

Its Director-General, Dr Jean Kaseya, shared this warning during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Thursday.

Kaseya expressed worry that although a $3 billion pledge was announced at a United Nations and G20 meeting in September, some partners reported receiving only about $220 million.

He said the unclear allocation and spending of these funds made it hard for governments to coordinate their responses to outbreaks.

Kaseya stated, “There was a practice in many African countries, I say many, not all, but many. Partners will get money from donors. They will implement their activities without disclosing how much they got, without even sending a report to the government.

“And when the outbreak is over, we’ll hear from some capitals that billions of dollars were invested to stop this outbreak. I said, enough is enough. It will never happen again on this continent.

“We managed to fundraise. We got figures from all donors. Out of $3 billion pledged, based on the last meeting that the US organised in September on the margins of the UN G20 meeting, we got a total pledge of $3 billion.”

According to him, the Africa CDC then worked with the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and brought partners together to find out how the money was distributed.

“Out of that, $962 million was already disbursed. We went to work with the DRC government. We organised a meeting with partners. Only 19 out of 92 partners attended. These 90 partners who attended one night disclosed that they received around $220 million.

“If I see, out of $962 million disbursed, the government knows only about $220 million, what kind of government can accept to lead a response without knowing even how much they have, without knowing who’s doing what and where?

“Then I said, stop. I need first to know: where is the $700 million? For now we are not talking about mismanagement. For now we are not talking about fraud. No, for now we are talking about traceability; we want to know where is money?

“This is why even in Nigeria, I already instructed Professor Aliko Ahmed, who’s working closely with Professor Mohammed Pate. His role will be to coordinate all partners who will be working in Nigeria and to provide the updates to the minister on a daily basis,” he added.

When asked if he could rule out fraud or mismanagement, Kaseya said the agency was working with donors to get details of the organisations that received funding and the amounts they got.

“You know we are working with donors. The US, they are sending me today the list of partners who got money, how much they got.

“The European Union, they already shared with me. I know exactly who got what. Other partners they are sending to other donors; they are sending to us.

“If today a partner got money from a donor, and the partner is unable to tell us what he did with this money, then I will start talking about fraud. Then I will start talking about mismanagement.

“But let me tell you, it’s not a threat. Partners who don’t want to comply with this rule, I will make sure that I will send a letter to all African countries, and I will go to the AU Assembly where they will be blacklisted in Africa.