President Paul Kagame, on Saturday, February 18, joined other African leaders for the launch of the Africa CDC Ministerial Executive Leadership Programme aimed at improving the capacity of countries’ response to health emergencies.

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The programme seeks to support public health leaders in acquiring advanced skills of strategizing, managing and leading public health responses on the continent.

The event took place on the sidelines of the ongoing African Union Summit, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

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Kagame noted that the new programme will strengthen Africa CDC to serve Africa well in the purpose for which it was created.

"Health policy is about saving lives and improving the quality of life for all of us. There’s nothing abstract about it. The ability for leaders at every level to get things done quickly and correctly has a huge impact on our families and communities,” he said.

He expressed confidence in the ability of medical doctors to deliver on their management roles in large and complex institutions, coordinating people, budgets and timelines.

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"No one should take these skills for granted...if it is successful, we may find that ministers in other sectors start asking the African Union for their own executive leadership training, which may not be such a bad thing.”

He, therefore, congratulated the African Union and Africa CDC as well as the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, and other partners in developing this program.

Dr. Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, Acting Director of Africa CDC, said the goal remains transformative leadership whose result will be better health for citizens on the continent in line with Agenda 2063.

He called on health ministers to collaborate with the agency to support the transformation of Africa’s Public health through deliberate exchanges of actionable ideas.

President Sahle-Work Zewde of Ethiopia, said that this programme will serve as a platform for health ministers to work together and share experiences, information, and access to different resources to improve the quality of public health.

"As a continent we have great lessons from our response to the various public health threats like Ebola and the recent Covid-19 pandemic. We know that Africa’s health challenges have become increasingly complex and require a multi-sectoral approach for effective response,” Zewde noted.