While the coronavirus is destabilizing an already fragile African health system, several private health services and innovators supported by Proparco – the private sector arm of Agence Française Développement Group – are taking action to overcome this major health and economic crisis.

In our series on “Shared Innovation”, AFD highlights innovative programs created or developed in our partner countries. The race for a coronavirus vaccine casts into sharp relief existing inequalities of global public health. Tropical diseases affecting more than one billion people attract only a fraction of the funding for illnesses affecting people in the north. But this is changing, with innovative forms of investment and collaboration increasing the affordability of neglected diseases. That could help pave the way to a widely available vaccine for Covid-19.

Promoting peace is a major commitment of Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Group, in particular via the Minka Fund which finances peace-building in territories affected by violent conflict. Charles Tellier, Head of the Fragility, Crises and Conflicts Division at AFD, takes a look at the consequences of the coronavirus crisis for vulnerable countries.