The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund (ADF) has approved a $9.57 million grant to enhance health security and emergency preparedness across countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Approved on 3 March 2026, this financing comes from the concessional window of the African Development Bank Group and will support the Resilient Health Systems for Emergency Preparedness Project, designed to strengthen regional health systems’ capacity to respond effectively to public health and nutrition emergencies.
The project will train 449 laboratory technicians, community health workers, and trainers, including 269 women, with programs that integrate gender considerations, climate change adaptation, and the One Health approach. Additionally, about 35 nutrition coordinators, including 21 women, will receive certification from specialized training institutions, while revised curricula are expected to benefit roughly 240 students annually, creating a sustainable regional pool of expertise in nutrition and gender-responsive emergency management.
Infrastructure upgrades are a core component of the initiative. Diagnostic laboratories, wastewater and environmental surveillance laboratories across six beneficiary countries will be renovated and equipped. The project will modernize Mozambique’s Instituto Nacional de Saúde to function as a regional reference laboratory and strengthen Lesotho’s national blood bank. A regional framework for cross-border model laboratories will be established, supported by a mobile laboratory deployed at two strategic border points in Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
Kennedy Mbekeani, African Development Bank’s Director General for Southern Africa, highlighted that the project addresses the persistent fragility of health systems in the SADC region, which remain vulnerable to zoonotic outbreaks, cholera epidemics, high malnutrition rates, limited human resources, and inadequate emergency preparedness.
