In October 2025, EVIHDAF in collaboration with FP2030, ICRW and ExpandNet, convened a focused webinar to tackle a single urgent question: how do West and Central African countries move from aid dependency to locally led, sustainable health systems? Organized under the theme “Breaking foreign aid dependency: building pathways to locally evidence-based stronger institutions, decision making and accountability in Africa”, the event brought together 75 participants and turned a diagnosis of shrinking aid and governance gaps into practical, action‑oriented discussion.
Speakers urged a shift toward stronger government budgets, efficiency gains, and financing strategies rooted in local priorities. They also emphasized that scaling requires government structured planning, ownership, and realistic implementation pathways, while participants pushed back against pilot‑only thinking. The consensus was clear: if an intervention cannot be scaled within existing systems, its relevance is limited.
Closing the webinar, EVIHDAF’s Executive Director, Dr Jean Christophe Fotso, framed the meeting as a launching pad, not a one‑off. “In 2026, EVIHDAF will run a webinar series and form Technical Working Groups to turn consensus into concrete tools and policy action” he said.
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