Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh has called for deeper health cooperation among African countries to strengthen the continent’s ability to prevent and contain disease outbreaks.

He said countries must improve the sharing of information, expertise, and technology to ensure emerging health threats are detected and contained before they spread across borders.

His comments come amid growing concerns over the spread of Ebola in Africa, with the Democratic Republic of Congo accounting for the majority of reported cases and deaths in the latest outbreak.

The Minister said individual countries cannot effectively deal with emerging outbreaks in isolation.

“We do not have to wait until there’s an outbreak before we start putting things together. So there is the need for the region, the sub-region, to get together and to work together and share information, share experiences, and share technology so that we’ll be able to contain or combat outbreaks within the sub-region. So it’s very, very important,” he said.

Mr Akandoh further called for increased investment in local pharmaceutical and medical production across Africa to reduce the continent’s dependence on external sources during health emergencies.

“When there is an outbreak in one country, the other countries must show solidarity and get prepared to prevent an outbreak in the other country,” he said.

He commended the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) for its role in coordinating responses to health emergencies but stressed the need to deepen regional coordination.

According to him, lessons from the COVID-19, Marburg, and Mpox outbreaks demonstrate the importance of early detection, rapid response, and sustained preparedness.

He said stronger regional collaboration would enable African countries to contain outbreaks more effectively and protect populations from the threat of cross-border transmission.