Strengthening Coordination and Accelerating Implementation of ALM with a focus on Private Sector Engagement in Health and Health Financing.

As a build up to the Kigali High-level Health Financing Conference. The Lusaka Pre-Conference event is a meeting convened by AUDA-NEPAD in collaboration with the African Union Commission and other partners to review progress and strengthen the coordination and implementation of the African Leadership Meeting (ALM) declaration on "Investing in Health." This declaration, adopted in February 2019, aims to increase domestic health financing in Africa to strengthen health systems and achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

The ALM declaration focuses on various commitments, including increasing domestic investment in health, convening meetings between African Ministers of Finance and Health, establishing regional health financing hubs, attracting private capital into the health sector, improving public financial management, and digitizing the Africa Scorecard on Domestic Financing for Health. The event will assess progress in implementing these commitments.

Key achievements highlighted include the development and piloting of a tracker to monitor the components of the ALM, digitization of the Africa Scorecard on Domestic Financing for Health, validation of a strategic framework for private sector engagement in health, and the establishment of Regional Health Financing Hubs in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and East African Community (EAC) regions.

The meeting's objectives include sharing best practices and lessons learned, outlining a comprehensive private sector and health financing engagement process, improving coordination of private sector investment in health, and identifying priority actions (quick wins) for health financing and private sector engagement in 2024. The outcomes of this conference will inform broader discussions at the Kigali health financing and investment conference scheduled for February 2024.