Oluwatobi Adu 
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and Population Services International (PSI) have launched a continent-wide partnership to expand immunisation and primary healthcare, targeting more than seven million African children who have never received routine vaccines.
The partnership was formalised on Tuesday in Addis Ababa, where Africa CDC Director-General Dr Jean Kaseya and PSI President Michael Holscher signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen vaccine access and primary healthcare systems across African Union member states. The initiative comes as an estimated seven million children remain zero-dose, while another 3.3 million have not completed their routine immunisation schedules.
The agreement will promote pharmacy-based immunisation, stronger public-private partnerships, health workforce integration, digital innovation, research and knowledge sharing to improve access to life-saving vaccines in underserved communities.
“Africa’s health security depends on our ability to ensure that every person can access life-saving preventive services,” Dr Kaseya said. “This partnership with PSI will help bring immunisation and primary healthcare closer to communities while strengthening national systems and building a healthier, more resilient Africa.”
Under the collaboration, PSI will provide technical leadership for pharmacy-based immunisation through programme design, workforce development, monitoring, research and country implementation. Africa CDC will coordinate regional policy dialogue, provide strategic guidance and facilitate knowledge exchange to help countries adopt successful models aligned with national priorities.
The organisations said technical working groups would oversee implementation and identify further areas of collaboration. By combining Africa CDC’s regional leadership with PSI’s field expertise, the partnership aims to strengthen primary healthcare, improve vaccine access and accelerate progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) across Africa.
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Korede Abdullah 