Partnership targets structural shift from donor dependency to domestically owned health systems.
Abuja, Nigeria: The ONE Campaign and the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) today announced a strategic partnership to drive health financing reform across Africa, beginning in Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone: three countries already charting the path of Africa’s accelerating transition away from external aid dependency.
The partnership pairs CHAI’s technical depth in fiscal space analysis and health system costing with ONE’s track record in political advocacy and accountability, a combination designed to move reform from evidence to execution.
“This collaboration is an opportunity to demonstrate that health financing reform can be both technically credible and politically actionable,” said Dr. William Menson, Director, Health Financing for Africa at ONE.
It launches as declining global health funding and rising fiscal pressure are forcing African governments to confront the structural question of how to build health systems that can survive and thrive on domestic resources. African countries must now chart a path toward nationally owned, equitable, and resilient health systems, and doing so requires a new model of collaboration.
“The technical case for health financing reform in these countries is clear,” said Jibrin Kama, Nigeria Program Director at CHAI. “What this partnership does is make sure that case lands with the people who have the power to act on it.”
Working within national contexts, the partnership will support governments to identify and quantify resource gaps following the declining donor support, optimize their domestic budgets, expand fiscal space, improve spending efficiency, and advance domestic resource mobilization. This includes supporting countries to advance concrete measures such as earmarked or guaranteed levies, health insurance contribution reforms, and budget reprioritization strategies. At least one pilot will focus on channeling non-ODA resources into priority health services. This includes support through HealthBridge, ONE’s existing initiative, developed with the Insurance Development Forum and the Brookings Institution, to transform diaspora remittances from reactive emergency transfers into predictable, pooled health protection for African families.
“This is not a temporary disruption. It is a structural shift,” said Serah Makka, Africa Executive Director for Africa at ONE.
The partnership is designed as a platform, not a bilateral arrangement, positioning governments, civil society, and global partners around a shared architecture for health financing transformation at scale.
“At the end of the day, this is about whether a mother in Lagos or Freetown can get the care she needs without it bankrupting her family,” said Dr. Olufunke Fasawe, Vice President, Integration, and Regional Director, West and Central Africa at CHAI. “Better government-driven financing systems make that possible — and that’s what we’re here to build.”
About ONE Campaign: ONE fights for a more just world by demanding the investments needed to create economic opportunities and healthier lives in Africa. https://www.one.org/us/
About CHAI: The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to saving lives and improving health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries by enabling the government and private sector to strengthen and sustain quality health systems. For more information, please visit: www.clintonhealthaccess.org
Media Contact: Lesijolu Eric-Nwabuzor, Sr. Mgr., Communications & Influencer Management, lesijolu.eric-nwabuzor@one.org, +234 810 665 4213
