From left to right: Dr. Michael Charles (RBM Partnership to End Malaria CEO), Fatma Samoura (Former FIFA Executive Secretary), Luis Figo (Football Legend) and Yacine Djibo, Executive Director of Speak Up Africa
As the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) concluded, football leaders and health advocates reflected on the tournament’s unique platform for advancing sports philanthropy.
The event provided the stage for the official launch of Speak Up Africa in Action, a new initiative designed to accelerate polio eradication and malaria elimination across the continent.
The initiative was unveiled on January 17, 2026, a day before the AFCON final in Rabat, bringing together football administrators, policymakers, global health partners, athletes, youth representatives, media, and civil society organisations.
Organisers said the platform aims to translate football’s reach and cultural influence into sustained political commitment, public engagement, and action on the continent’s most persistent public health challenges.
Speak Up Africa in Action is structured as a recurring, travelling platform that will be embedded in major sporting and cultural events across Africa.
It combines high-level dialogue, athlete advocacy, youth participation, and storytelling to strengthen trust in health systems and reinforce African-led health leadership.
The launch comes amid growing pressure on public health programmes, with funding uncertainty, competing global crises, and declining public confidence threatening gains made in immunisation and disease prevention.
Advocates say sport can play a complementary role by mobilising attention, influence, and leadership rather than replacing government responsibility.
“Africa has the leadership, credibility, and community trust needed to end polio and malaria,” said Yacine Djibo, Founder and Executive Director of Speak Up Africa.
“This platform brings those strengths together and uses the power of sport to sustain momentum where it matters most.”
Polio eradication in its final phase
A central focus of the AFCON activation was Kick Out Polio, a campaign implemented in partnership with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
Although Africa was certified wild-polio-free in 2020, outbreaks of variant poliovirus continue to be reported in several countries, making the final phase of eradication both urgent and complex.
The campaign draws on football’s values of teamwork, discipline, and shared responsibility to encourage governments, caregivers, and communities to ensure children receive routine immunisation.
Football figures and cultural leaders are being mobilised to reinforce political commitment, predictable financing, and public confidence in vaccines.
“Sport speaks a language everyone understands,” said Fatma Samoura, former Secretary General of FIFA.
“When we harness that power for public health, especially in the final push to eradicate polio, we unlock momentum that institutions alone cannot generate.”
Football leadership and malaria elimination
The activation also highlighted the Zero Malaria Football Club, an alliance of football figures supporting malaria elimination efforts across the continent.
Launched in April 2023 by football legends Luís Figo and Khalilou Fadiga, the initiative supports the Zero Malaria Starts with Me movement led by the African Union Commission and the RBM Partnership to End Malaria.
Malaria remains one of Africa’s leading causes of preventable illness and death, particularly among children under five.
With international financing for malaria programmes under strain, organisers described football-led advocacy as an important tool for sustaining political will and public engagement.
“Football has always been about teamwork and finishing what we start,” said Figo, co-captain of the Zero Malaria Football Club.
“This is a match we can, and must, win.”
The use of football to advance health goals reflects a broader shift within African sport philanthropy, where influence, visibility, and narrative power are increasingly leveraged alongside traditional funding to protect public health gains.
Linking advocacy to community action
Beyond advocacy, Speak Up Africa used the AFCON platform to signal longer-term engagement at the community level.
During the event, the organisation signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Tibu Africa, a pan-African organisation that uses sport to promote education, social inclusion, and community development.
The partnership aims to deepen community engagement, strengthen trust in public health interventions, and implement joint initiatives supporting polio eradication and malaria elimination in collaboration with local stakeholders.
Speakers at the event also underscored the responsibility of football institutions to contribute to social outcomes beyond sport.
“Football is not only a sport; it is a social responsibility,” said Hicham El Amrani, former Secretary General of the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
“By engaging in the fight against polio and malaria, football can place its credibility and reach at the service of public health.”
Organisers said the AFCON edition marks the official launch of Speak Up Africa in Action, which will continue across the sports calendar, positioning sport philanthropy as a partner in advancing African-led responses to the continent’s most pressing public health challenges.
About Speak Up Africa
Speak Up Africa is an advocacy organisation dedicated to catalysing African-led solutions to the continent’s most pressing public health and development challenges.
Based in Dakar and working across Africa, the organisation partners with governments, civil society, research institutions, the private sector, and global initiatives to drive policy change, elevate citizen voices, and strengthen health systems.
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