African Development Fund awards $14M to build capacity and boost West African health systems

The African Development Bank’s development fund has announced a $14.26 million grant to the West African Health Organisation to strengthen health systems and medical regulation across Benin, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Togo. The funding will support quality, universal healthcare by upgrading regulatory authorities, expanding laboratory capacity, improving diagnostics, and enhancing preparedness for public health and nutrition emergencies. The initiative includes health workforce training to create 300 jobs, with more than 40% allocated to women. The grant will also be leveraged to improve health security, accelerate medicine quality testing, and reduce the proliferation of counterfeit drugs.