The World Health Organization WHO and the European Union EU announced today a new agreement to support the digital transformation of health systems and wider adoption of WHO's Global Digital Health Certification Network GDHCN in sub-Saharan Africa. This EU-WHO partnership will improve pandemic preparedness and accelerate progress towards better health and well-being for all.
The agreement was announced at the World Health Summit 2025 by Dr Yukiko Nakatani, WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Systems, Access and Data Dr Mohamed Yakub Janabi, WHO Regional Director for Africa and Mr Martin Seychell, Deputy Director-General of the European Commission Directorate-General for International Partnerships.
The GDHCN is a global system that enables countries to securely and reliably verify nationally approved digital health credentials across borders. The system builds on the European Union Digital COVID Certificate EU DCC, which facilitated verification of vaccination, testing and recovery certification for international travelers connecting 76 countries and territories. However, only four countries from the WHO African Region-Benin, Cabo Verde, Seychelles and Togo-were able to join the EU DCC network.
