Building the Economic Case for Domestic Investment in Health R&D in Africa

World Health Assembly – Official Side Event 

19 May 2026, 18h00-19h30 | WHO HQ, Geneva and online

Register to join online here: Webinar Registration - Zoom

Africa carries 25% of the world’s disease burden but captures just a fraction of the science, jobs and economic value of the R&D designed to fight that burden. As aid declines and other countries invest more of their GDP in health R&D, the continent risks remaining a consumer in a trillion-dollar global industry: exporting talent while importing the technologies it depends on.

Join Africa CDC and the Team Europe for the launch of a landmark macroeconomic analysis showing how that trajectory can change. The findings are striking: investing in health R&D could generate $668 billion in GDP, create millions of jobs, crowd in private capital, and deliver a 137x return within a single generation. This is not just a health agenda; it’s a blueprint for building Africa’s next economic engine.

Event co-sponsors include Belgium, Egypt, France, Germany, Ghana, Kenya, Sweden, and Zambia. 

REGISTER TO JOIN ONLINE

While in-person attendance is extremely limited, the event will also be livestreamed. Please register here to join the livestream.