Somalia Backs Stronger Regional Health Cooperation

GOOBJOOG NEWS | DJIBOUTI: Fourteen countries from East and Central Africa have reaffirmed their commitment to working together to tackle shared health threats, with Somalia playing a leading role in advancing cross-border health cooperation during a high-level ministerial meeting held this week in Djibouti.

Presiding over the gathering as Chair of the Regional Steering Committee (ReSCo), Somalia’s Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Ali Haji Adam, urged governments to strengthen their collective capacity to detect and respond to disease outbreaks that ignore national borders.

“We live in a region where health challenges travel faster than borders can contain. Our strength lies in our unity,” Dr. Adam told ministers and senior health officials gathered from across the region.

The ministerial meeting, hosted by the Republic of Djibouti, focused on bolstering cross-border health security through coordinated surveillance, joint emergency response planning, and harmonized disease detection systems.

It comes at a time when climate shocks, migration, and resource pressures are compounding public health risks across the Horn and beyond.

Somalia, which has chaired ReSCo for the past three years, was widely praised for breathing new life into regional health diplomacy and promoting a vision of shared responsibility. Under its leadership, ReSCo has made progress in aligning national health strategies and building trust among neighbors in responding to emergencies like pandemics and cross-border disease outbreaks.

At the Djibouti summit, member states agreed to form technical subcommittees focused on three priority areas: cross-border collaboration, disease detection and control, and emergency preparedness. These efforts are expected to improve how the region shares data, mobilizes resources, and acts quickly in the face of emerging health threats.

For Somalia, the forum was also a moment of pride, symbolizing how the country, once a recipient of aid in health crises, is now actively shaping regional health policy and contributing to the stability of the broader region.

“Somalia is no longer standing on the sidelines. We are at the center of the conversation, driving forward a common health agenda for our region,” said Dr. Adam.

The meeting concluded with preparations to elect a new Chairperson for ReSCo, as Somalia prepares to pass the torch, but not the momentum, of regional cooperation.

As East and Central Africa face rising risks from pandemics, climate-induced illnesses, and fragile health infrastructure, countries are betting on unity over isolation. And Somalia, with its renewed confidence on the regional stage, is proving to be a vital voice in the push for health security beyond its borders.