Between March 2023 and November 2024, the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) undertook a collaborative study to evaluate how international public health deployments strengthen national outbreak preparedness and response capabilities across African Union member states. This work addresses a critical evidence gap in global health - while millions of pounds are invested annually in international deployments to support outbreak response, quantifying their specific impact on strengthening national capacities has remained challenging.
The study engaged stakeholders across African Union member states including Ministries of Health, National Public Health Institutes, civil society organisations, deployed personnel, and partner agencies. Through extensive interviews, case studies and surveys, the research provides unprecedented insight into how international deployments can create lasting positive change in national outbreak response capabilities.
Encouragingly, the findings demonstrate the significant value added to national outbreak capacities through international deployments. To bolster this further, 15 recommendations have been co-developed to strengthen the impact of future deployments to create sustainable change and outline the conditions that support the most effective outcomes.
This groundbreaking research represents a shift from traditional "rapid response" approaches towards partnership-based capacity strengthening. Rather than viewing deployments as one-directional assistance, this study explores what one participant described as "solidarity" - recognising that international deployments create mutual benefits for collective global health security.
Dr Ed Newman, Director of UK-PHRST said, “Whilst we welcome the evidence this work provides that international deployments have both immediate and lasting impacts, this research reinforces the need for global partnerships to evolve - where international deployments are not just reactive measures, but deliberate investments in national systems, tailored to local realities and long-term goals.”
The research partnership is now developing a roadmap to implement the recommendations, aiming to serve as a good practice guide on how to enable sustainable solutions in outbreak management among African Union Member States. In turn, this research lays a foundation for reducing long-term reliance on external surge capacity by strengthening national health systems.
|
Dr Femi Nzegwu, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning lead at UK-PHRST and Assistant Professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said: “Evidence-informed learning must guide how we improve emergency public health deployments. The findings validate experiences across Africa but also point to what must change to ensure deployments are more effective, context-specific, equitable, and empowering for Member States.” |
For further information about the project, contact UK-PHRST’s research team.