The Role of International Organizations in Managing Global Health Security: A Study of World Health Organization Activities in Africa
Abstract
The study examines the role of international organizations, specifically the World Health Organization (WHO), in managing global health security in Africa. It evaluates WHO’s effectiveness, the impact of systemic inequality in resource allocation, and the consequences of delays in decision-making and operational inefficiencies. The research is anchored in regime theory, which explains how international organizations govern global health security through established norms and cooperative frameworks (Krasner, 1983). A qualitative research design was employed, utilizing data from WHO reports, global health indices, and case studies of past health crises, such as Ebola (2014–2016) and COVID-19 (2020–2024). Data were collected from WHO publications, African CDC reports, peer-reviewed journals, and government health statistics. Findings reveal that WHO plays a pivotal role in disease surveillance, emergency response coordination, and health policy implementation. However, systemic inequalities in funding and material distribution have limited Africa’s ability to respond effectively to health crises. Delays in WHO’s decision-making processes have further exacerbated the impact of pandemics on the continent. Despite these challenges, WHO remains a key institution for strengthening health security, provided that operational inefficiencies are addressed, resource distribution becomes more equitable, and decision-making processes are restructured. The study recommends decentralizing WHO’s regional offices in Africa, improving health equity in resource allocation, and reducing bureaucratic inefficiencies to enhance rapid emergency response. These findings contribute to ongoing policy discussions on global health governance and sustainable health security strategies for Africa.
References
Abbott, K. W., & Snidal, D. (2021). The governance triangle: Regulatory standards in global politics. International Organization, 75(4), 845-877.
Adepoju, P. (2020). Ebola in Africa: Lessons for global health governance. Global Health Action, 13(1), 179-188.
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, & Robert Koch Institute. (2023). Africa CDC, WHO and RKI Launch a Health Security Partnership to Strengthen Disease Surveillance in Africa. Retrieved from
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). A new deal for African health security. Retrieved from
Akpaka, K., & Ameh, A. (2023). Vaccine equity in Africa: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic. African Journal of Health Economics, 18(3), 145-159.
Associated Press. (2023, June 23). Macron and African leaders push for vaccines for Africa after COVID-19 exposed inequalities. Retrieved from turnnews19.
Associated Press. (2024, December 15). Morocco produces Africa's first mpox tests as the continent tries to rely less on imports. Retrieved from
Awoyemi, A., Onyema, U., & Mbeke, E. (2023). Strengthening One Health in Africa: The role of international organizations. Journal of Public Health Research, 12(2), 222-230.
Barasa, E., Rogo, K., Mwaura, N., & Chuma, J. (2015). Equity in health care financing in Kenya: a case of chronic illnesses. International Journal for Equity in Health, 14(1), 1-12.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2022). Thematic analysis: A practical guide. SAGE Publications.
Brown, G. W., Rhodes, N., & Loewenson, R. (2022). Pandemic governance and international health financing. Globalization and Health, 18, 77.
Brown, G. W., Rhodes, N., Tacheva, B., Loewenson, R., Shahid, M., & Poitier, F. (2023). Challenges in international health financing and implications for the new pandemic fund. Globalization and Health, 19, Article 97. https://globalizationandhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12992-023-00999-6.
Bryman, A. (2021). Social research methods (6th ed.). Oxford University Press.
Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2023). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (6th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Falkner, R. (2021). The Paris Agreement and the new logic of international climate politics. International Affairs, 97(5), 1335-1352.
Fidler, D. P. (2019). Global health governance: Overview and trends. Global Public Health, 14(4), 467-482.
Financial Times (2024). The rising threat of deadly diseases jumping from animals to humans. London: Prentice Halls.
Gates Foundation. (2023). African Medicines Agency - Improving Africa's Health Security. Retrieved from turnsearch1.
GHSA (2021). Global Health Security Agenda: Strengthening capacities to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats. Retrieved from https://ghsa.org.
Global Health Emergency Corps (2024). Global health initiatives. London: Free Enterprise.
Gostin, L. O., Monahan, J. T., Kaldor, J., DeBartolo, M., Friedman, E. A., Gottschalk, K., & Alwan, A. (2020). The legal determinants of health: Harnessing the power of law for global health and sustainable development. The Lancet, 393(10183), 1857-1910.
Gostin, L. O., Moon, S., & Meier, B. M. (2022). Advancing global health governance in an era of pandemic insecurity. Global Health Governance, 16(2), 1-18.
International Affairs. (2022). Explaining the failure of global health governance during COVID-19. Retrieved from citeturn0search.
Ivanov, D., & Dolgui, A. (2020). Viability of intertwined supply networks: extending the supply chain resilience angles towards survivability. International Journal of Production Research, 58(10), 2904-2915. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10479-020-03912-1.
Kandel, N., Sreedharan, R., Chungong, S., Sliter, K., Nikkari, S., Ijaz, K., ... & Barbeschi, M. (2023). The role of international support programmes in global health security: a narrative review. Globalization and Health, 19(1), 1-12.
Kelley, K., Clark, B., Brown, V., & Sitzia, J. (2003). Good practice in the conduct and reporting of survey research. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 15(3), 261-266.
Keohane, R. O. (1984). After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy. Princeton University Press.
Keohane, R. O. (2021). After hegemony: Cooperation and discord in the world political economy. Princeton University Press.
Keohane, R. O. (2021). Global governance and accountability. International Studies Quarterly, 65(3), 537-553.
Kickbusch, I., Szabo, M. M., & Jakab, M. (2021). The governance of health in the 21st century. Global Public Health, 16(5), 678-695.
Krasner, S. D. (1982). Structural causes and regime consequences: Regimes as intervening variables. International Organization, 36(2), 185-205.
Lake, D. A. (2018). Hierarchy in international relations: Revisiting regime theory. World Politics, 70(3), 497-536.
Le Monde. (2024, August 23). Mpox, Africa's vaccination emergency. Retrieved from turn0news21
Mackintosh, M., Banda, G., Tibandebage, P., & Wamae, W. (2021). Local manufacturing, local supply chains and health security in Africa. BMJ Global Health, 6(6), e006362.
Madhav, N., Oppenheim, B., Gallivan, M., Mulembakani, P., Rubin, E., & Wolfe, N. (2018). Pandemics: Risks, impacts, and mitigation. In D. T. Jamison et al. (Eds.), Disease Control Priorities: Improving Health and Reducing Poverty (3rd ed). World Bank.
Majid, U. (2018). Research fundamentals: study design, population, and sample size. Undergraduate Research in Natural and Clinical Science and Technology Journal, 2(1), 1-7
McInnes, C., & Lee, K. (2012). Global health and international relations. Global Policy, 3(3), 313-323
Memon, M. A., Ting, H., Cheah, J. H., Ramayah, T., Chuah, F., & Cham, T. H. (2020). Sample size for survey research: review and recommendations. Journal of Applied Structural Equation Modeling, 4(2), i-xx.
Moon, S., Sridhar, D., Pate, M. A., Jha, A. K., Clinton, C., Delaunay, S., & Piot, P. (2015). Will Ebola change the game? Ten essential reforms before the next pandemic. The Lancet, 386(10009), 2204-2221.
Nkengasong, J. N. (2020). Responding to the challenge of COVID-19 in Africa: A new public health order. The Lancet, 396 (10245), 1306-1308.
Nkengasong, J., Tessema, S. K., & Gondwe, B. (2021). Coordinating Africa’s response to COVID-19. Nature Medicine, 27(1), 13-16.
Otu, A., Ebenso, B., Labonte, R., & Yaya, S. (2021). How public health crises expose systemic, day-to-day health inequalities in Nigeria. Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control, 10(1), 1-5.
Reuters. (2024, August 24). Why mpox vaccines are only just arriving in Africa after two years. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/why-mpox-vaccines-are-only-just-arriving-africa-after-two-years-2024-08-24/.
Rigby, J., & Farge, E. (2025). WHO appeals for 1.5 billion dollars for emergencies with US funding in question. London: Atlas Books.
Tambo, E., Ugwu, C. E., & Ngogang, Y. J. (2022). Strengthening public health systems in Africa through the International Health Regulations. The Lancet Regional Health – Africa, 7(1), 45-53.
Time. (2024, August 24). The Global System for Distributing Mpox Shots Is Broken. Here's How to Fix It. Retrieved from turn0news22.
United Nations. (2023). Sustainable Development Goals: Goal 3—Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages. Retrieved from https://sdgs.un.org/goals
WHO. (2016). Ebola virus disease outbreak response plan in West Africa. Retrieved from https://www.who.int.
WHO. (2021). About WHO: What we do. Retrieved from https://www.who.int
WHO. (2021). COVID-19 in the African region: Progress and challenges. Retrieved from www.afro.who.int.
WHO. (2021). COVID-19 vaccine introduction and deployment in Africa: Challenges and successes. Retrieved from https://www.who.int.
Wikipedia. (2023, October 10). Western African Ebola epidemic. Retrieved from citeturn0search.
World Bank. (2022). International health regulations and global pandemic preparedness. Retrieved from https://www.worldbank.org.
World Health Organization (2022). Strengthening the global health security interface. London; Atlas Books.
World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa. (2022). Ensuring Health Security in the African Region. Retrieved from citeturn0search.
World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa. (2023). Forging Resilience: WHO AFRO Establishes Independent Expert Body to Bolster Africa's Health Security. Retrieved from
World Health Organization. (2018.). Health inequities and their causes. Retrieved from aricjournal.biomedcentral.com.
World Health Organization. (2020). Report on the performance of health systems in the WHO African Region. Retrieved from https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/333713.
World Health Organization. (2020). World Health Statistics - World Health Organization (WHO). Retrieved from https://www.who.int/data/gho/publications/world-health-statistics.
World Health Organization. (2021). African Region - World Health Organization (WHO). Retrieved from https://www.who.int/about/accountability/results/who-results-report-2020-mtr/african-region.
World Health Organization. (2022). Reports | WHO | Regional Office for Africa. Retrieved from https://www.afro.who.int/regional-director/regional-director-reports.
World Health Organization. (2023). Annual global health report. Retrieved from https://www.who.int.
World Health Organization. (2023). Atlas of African Health Statistics 2022: Health situation analysis of the WHO African.
World Health Organization. (2023). Global health governance and pandemic preparedness. Retrieved from https://www.who.int
World Health Organization. (2023). Global Health Observatory Data Repository. Retrieved from https://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.
World Health Organization. (2023). World health statistics 2023: Monitoring health for the SDGs. Retrieved from https://www.who.int.
World Health Organization. (2023, April 20). WHO releases the largest global collection of health inequality data. Retrieved from aricjournal.biomedcentral.com.
World Health Organization. (2023, November 21). Global Observatory on Health R&D: Bridging the Gap in Global Health Research and Development. Retrieved from aricjournal.biomedcentral.com.
World Health Organization. (2024). Global health governance and pandemic preparedness. Retrieved from https://www.who.int.
World Health Organization. (2024). World health statistics 2024: monitoring health for the SDGs. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240094703.
World Health Organization. (2024). World health statistics 2024: Monitoring health for the SDGs. Retrieved from https://www.who.int.
Yale School of Public Health. (2023). Africa and Global Health Security: Asking the Right Questions. Retrieved from https://ysph.yale.edu/news-article/africa-and-global-health-security-asking-the-right-questions/?utm.
Yin, R. K. (2022). Case study research and applications: Design and methods (7th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Young, O. R. (2011). Governing complex systems: Social capital for the Anthropocene. The MIT Press.
