The Africa Working Group is jointly operated by the GHA – German Health Alliance and the German-African Business Association (“Afrika-Verein”). In this way, the broad spectrum of in-depth competences in health covered by the GHA and its members is combined with the special regional and country-related expertise of the Afrika-Verein. This specific interconnectedness represents a particular added value for members of both organisations.

The joint working group emerged from the close cooperation within the framework of the establishment of the German-African Healthcare Forum in 2014 and as a result of the “lessons learned” from the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, which led to the establishment of the multi-sectoral “Action Group on Ebola Action” in the same year.

The German-African Healthcare Forum has subsequently developed into the leading conference of German-African cooperation in the health sector. This conference, which is held annually in conjunction and close partnership with the World Health Summit in Berlin, usually attracts up to more than 200 participants from all sectors, including decision-makers from business, politics, science & academia, NGOs and foundations. A specific feature of this health forum is the high presence of African health ministers and representatives of international organisations. The leitmotif and core topics of the agenda as well as the appointment of speakers for this conference are mainly developed and proposed by the Africa Working Group.

In addition, the Africa Working Group develops position papers with regard to the special challenges, opportunities and potentials arising from the need for stable, resilient health systems in countries on the African continent. Strengthening health systems as a basic prerequisite and foundation for non-discriminatory access to universal, quality-oriented healthcare is a particular focus. In this context, the basic idea that without economic efficiency and stability there cannot be sufficient sustainability to be able to improve health care on a broad scale also comes into play.

In this respect, the Africa Working Group of GHA and Afrika-Verein has a special position and role at the interfaces of health in development cooperation, global health and Africa-related foreign trade and business and follows the GHA’s mission statement particularly closely.