The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has intensified calls for more health financing reforms and accelerated local pharmaceutical manufacturing to reduce out-of-pocket spending and strengthen the continent’s health sovereignty. The Deputy Incident Manager at Africa CDC, Yap Boum II, identified inefficiencies in national health systems as a major driver of high direct household payments across African countries during a bi-weekly high-level regional press briefing on Thursday. “In countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, studies show that about $800 million is lost annually to ghost workers,” he said. “Digitising payroll systems can recover these funds and redirect them towards service delivery.” Mr Boum II noted that household payments accou...