The partnership will strengthen the planning, delivery, and sustainability of the Africa CDC International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA) and other flagship public health convenings at a time of heightened demand for coordinated health leadership across the continent.

Africa CDC Director-General Dr Jean Kaseya and Informa Markets President for Middle East, India, Türkiye & Africa Mr Peter Hall signed the agreement, which combines Africa CDC’s scientific leadership with Informa’s global expertise in large-scale event management.

The goal is to enhance the quality, reach, and long-term sustainability of Africa’s premier public health platforms.

“This partnership reinforces Africa CDC’s commitment to strengthening continental ownership of public health priorities,” said Dr Kaseya.

“CPHIA has become a critical forum for African experts and leaders to set the continent’s health security agenda. Informa Markets’ support will help expand the conference’s reach and impact while preserving Africa CDC’s full scientific, strategic, and convening leadership.”

Under this partnership, Africa CDC reinforces the institution’s central role in advancing continental priorities, including its 2023–2027 Strategic Plan and the Africa Health Security and Sovereignty (AHSS) agenda.

Informa Markets, a global leader in exhibitions and organiser of World Health Expo, will leverage its global reach, industry expertise and experience to elevate CPHIA’s scale, visibility and impact across Africa and internationally.   

Peter Hall, president for Middle East, India, Türkiye & Africa at Informa Markets, added:

“This partnership reflects a strong alignment of vision between Informa Markets and Africa CDC. Drawing on over 50 years’ experience delivering trusted global healthcare events, Informa Markets is proud to support CPHIA’s continued growth. Together, we will ensure CPHIA 2026 delivers lasting value for Africa’s public health ecosystem”.

Since its inaugural edition in December 2021, Africa CDC has convened four editions of CPHIA, each building momentum as the continent’s leading forum for public health dialogue, policy alignment, and scientific exchange.

The conference has brought together Heads of State, Ministers of Health, researchers, frontline health workers, private-sector leaders, and global institutions, cementing CPHIA’s role as a central platform for shaping Africa’s public health agenda.

The fifth edition, CPHIA 2026, will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with thousands of delegates expected to attend.

This is the conclusion of a complex legal overhaul that attracted investigations from regulators and strong opposition from co-founder Elon Musk.

Under the new arrangement, the OpenAI Foundation assumes legal authority over OpenAI Group, a public benefit corporation with full freedom to raise funds, form partnerships, and acquire companies. 

The Foundation now holds a 26% ownership stake, alongside a warrant for additional shares as the company grows. Microsoft retains approximately 27%, valued around $135 billion, while employees and other investors share the remaining equity.

In a statement announcing the change, OpenAI Chairman Brett Taylor said:

“We believe that the world’s most powerful technology must be developed in a way that reflects the world’s collective interests. The close of our recapitalisation gives us the ability to keep pushing the frontier of AI, and an updated corporate structure to ensure progress serves everyone.”

The Foundation’s first initiative is a $25 billion commitment to two focus areas: advancing global health innovation and strengthening AI resilience. The health programme aims to fund research and open-source datasets to accelerate medical breakthroughs. 

Meanwhile, the AI resilience plan seeks to develop systems that protect critical sectors, such as energy, healthcare, and finance, from emerging risks tied to artificial intelligence.

The recapitalisation, completed after nearly a year of negotiations with regulators in California and Delaware, was influenced by legal reviews and recommendations from both states’ attorneys general. “We made several changes as a result of those discussions and we believe OpenAI, and as a result, the public we serve, are better for them,” Taylor added.

For Microsoft, this restructuring enhances its long-term collaboration with OpenAI. A company blog confirmed that the deal extends Microsoft’s intellectual property rights to OpenAI models until 2032. Should OpenAI declare that it has achieved artificial general intelligence (AGI), an independent expert panel will be tasked with verifying that achievement.

Before the overhaul, OpenAI operated as a capped-profit company within a non-profit framework, a model that became increasingly unsustainable as its goal expanded. 

Reports reveal that SoftBank’s $30 billion investment hinged on OpenAI’s conversion into a for-profit entity, a move that paved the way for the company’s current valuation surge.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has announced a public livestream alongside Chief Scientist Jakub Pachocki to discuss the implications of the restructure and answer questions. The event is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. Pacific Time.

Through the OpenAI Foundation, the company has become one of the best-resourced philanthropic organisations globally, with its mission to ensure that AGI benefits all of humanity firmly at the centre of its operations. 

The for-profit and non-profit arms are expected to work in tandem, advancing commercial growth while driving ethical and societal impact on a global scale.