In February 2019, African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government adopted the AU Assembly Decision “Addis Ababa Commitment towards Shared Responsibility and Global Solidarity for Increased Health Financing” – Assembly/AU/20(XXXII) as a strong stance for renewed commitment to increase domestic investment in health, and to improve the efficiency and impact of health spending. The Assembly Decision, also refered to as the Africa Leadership Meeting – Investing in Health (ALM) Declaration, mandates the AU Commission to convene biennial meetings between Ministers of Finance and Health to enhance collaboration towards implementation of the Decision and review progress.

The AU Commission convened a series of five regional meetings Ministers of Health and Ministers of Finance from Eastern Africa, Central Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa and West Africa Regions in September and October 2020, to share experiences, challenges, concerns and opportunities regarding how to sustain health gains in the face of the devastating COVID-19 pandemic by implementing health financing reforms which seek to mobilize additional resources for health and extract improved value for money from current health spending. The Ministers endorsed communiqués pledging to work together.