Tunisia Aims to Become a Hub for African Health Expertise
Minister of Health Meets with African CDC Director to Strengthen Cooperation
On Wednesday, Tunisian Minister of Health Moustapha Ferjani held a working session with Wissam Mankoula, Director of the African Regional Office for North Africa at the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC Africa). Mankoula was accompanied by a delegation from the Center.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Health, the meeting focused on ways to enhance cooperation in various areas, including digital health, telemedicine, tele-radiology, primary healthcare, and vaccination.
Minister Ferjani emphasized that Tunisia has the necessary assets to become a platform for African countries to share expertise and promote health sovereignty on the continent. He highlighted the importance of improving the capacity of healthcare systems to respond to epidemics and emergencies, as well as bridging the gap between citizens and healthcare services.
Ferjani also stressed the need to develop an African system for collecting, analyzing, and exchanging data within the framework of the "One Health" approach. This approach aims to optimize human, animal, and ecosystem health, and find a balance between these dimensions.
The Minister called for active participation from African countries in the "Telehealth Connect Summit" conference, which will be held in Tunisia from September 29 to October 1, 2026. He described the event as a major hub for digital health and telemedicine in Africa.
For his part, the CDC Africa representative expressed his organization's support for this approach to sharing expertise, highlighting the importance of Tunisia's experience at the African level.
About the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention
The African Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC Africa) is a technical autonomous agency created by the African Union (UA) to strengthen the capacities, skills, and partnerships of African public health institutions. Its primary objective is to prevent, detect, and respond to threats and epidemics through evidence-based interventions and programs, in an efficient and effective manner. Founded in early 2016, the Center was officially inaugurated in January 2017.
