The World Health Organization warned that vaccination programs across Africa risk losing momentum, citing both funding cuts and war-linked disruptions that, WHO said, are beginning to undermine health-system capacity and vaccine delivery. The agency, in its first comprehensive analysis of immunization in Africa, said the region’s progress remains substantial but is now uneven—an outlook that WHO tied to reduced financing, strained logistics, and the longer-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on routine immunization.
WHO said it has reached more than 500 million children through routine vaccination since 2000, preventing over 4 million deaths each year. Over the longer run, WHO said vaccines have saved more than 50 million lives in Africa over the past five decades, adding an estimate that the gains translated to “gaining an estimated 60 years of life expectancy for each infant life saved” during that period.
In 2024 alone, WHO said vaccines saved nearly 2 million lives. The agency highlighted milestones including the eradication of wild poliovirus in 2020, which it called “a historic milestone for Africa,” and the elimination of maternal and neonatal tetanus in most countries.
WHO also said malaria vaccines are being introduced across parts of the continent, with the agency noting that vaccines against malaria are now being introduced in 25 countries. WHO’s regional director for Africa, Mohamed Janabi, described that rollout as “a major scientific and public health breakthrough” during an online press briefing, while also warning that “progress is uneven and in some places really slowing.”
Janabi tied the slowdowns partly to the post–COVID-19 period, saying the pandemic increased the number of children who have never received a single vaccine. He said “ten countries account for 80% of children who haven’t received any vaccine in the region,” describing the imbalance as “a profound equity issue,” and added that the immunization outcomes reflect “very different realities,” requiring more work to reach children in “the most fragile and remote contexts.”
WHO also linked the risk to shrinking external support for health programs. The agency said aid cuts since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025 have been damaging, and it pointed to the U.S. withdrawal from WHO in January as a factor in the loss of about 40% of the agency’s overseas development funding. Janabi urged African governments to increase domestic health financing to offset the impact.
In addition to funding uncertainty, WHO said the Iran war is disrupting supply chains and raising costs, straining budgets for health systems that rely on reliable power and logistics. Adelheid Onyango, WHO’s Africa director for health systems and services, said the agency has not yet quantified the war’s impact but described concern in part because “many of our facilities depend on generators.”
Health experts also warned that limited financing is becoming the biggest threat to immunization efforts. Shabir Madhi, a professor of vaccinology and dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, said funding is emerging as the “biggest threat” as the U.S. and other Western donors tighten aid. Madhi said aid-funded programs in many countries have already scaled back or shut down, reducing access to elements vaccination campaigns rely on, including clinics, health workers, cold-chain infrastructure and outreach services.
Madhi also warned that the financial crunch is reaching major partners. He said, “It can’t be that we continue relying on the likes of Gavi Vaccine Alliance,” and added that “The Gavi Vaccine Alliance itself is already experiencing a financial crunch.” He argued that countries need to put more of the immunization program’s financing burden on themselves, saying: “What we need to start putting on the table is what percentage of the immunization program should be funded by countries … to ensure that not just a few children are getting vaccinated.”
At the same briefing, Sania Nishtar, chief executive of Gavi, said: “These immunization outcomes reflect very different realities, and we have more work to do to ensure we are consistently able to reach children, even in the most fragile and remote contexts.” WHO’s analysis framed the warnings as a call for restoring stability to immunization financing and delivery systems in the face of aid reductions and war-related disruptions.