Africas health challenges remain arduous (vanskelige), actions required
JOHANNESBURG, 14 April: Heavy disease burden, lack of essential medicines and frail health systems still pose arduous challenges that continue to hold back the development of Africa, the continents health ministers warned Friday.
African governments and international partners should prioritize the development of health sector to ensure access to basic health care for all Africans by 2015, they said.
Health ministers from more than 40 African countries wrapped up a week-long conference in Johannesburg by adopting a nine-year strategy plan for strengthening health service.
Africa is still not on track to meet the UNs health Millennium Development goals (MDG) by 2015 and “the prevailing (fremherskende) population trends could undermine progress made,” a document of the strategy plan acknowledged.
A “triple burden” of disease from communicable (smittefarlige) and non- communicable diseases as well as from injuries and violence has severely strained the continents health system, said Botswanas Health Minister Sheila Dinotshe Tlou.
She said Africa has 3 percent of the worlds health workforce, but its disease burden is 25 percent of the worlds total.
Life expectancy on the continent, home to 12 percent of the global population, has been reduced to an average of 52 years by many factors including the epidemic of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
The maternal mortality rate in Africa remains up to 1.500 per 100.000 people, and under five mortality rate is still 171 per 1.000, compared with 228 per 100.000 and 61 per 1.000 of the MDGs.
– The MDGs will not be attained if things continue as they have been during the first five years of this century, Alpha Omar Konare, chairman of the African Union (AU) Commission, said during the meeting.
Other challenges identified include poor access to essential medicines, under-resourced systems and critical shortage of human resources for health.
Shortfalls in agriculture, low literacy, ongoing conflicts, and lack of safe water, adequate sanitation, electrification and infrastructure all drive up the disease burden in Africa.
The 2007-2015 Africa Health Strategy aims to provide basic health care to all Africans by 2015 through strengthening health systems, especially for the poorest, most marginalized and displaced people.
The strategy urged countries to allocate at least 15 percent of total government expenditure to health, a goal set in 2001, which so far has only been achieved by two of 53 AU member states.
The strategy encouraged African countries to embark on local production of essential medicines to reduce heavy reliance on imports.
It also called on AU members to advocate for western governments to increase the training of their own health workers. This would help reduce immigration of doctors and nurses from the south to the north.
Governments recognized the widespread use of traditional medicine and the importance of integrating it into national health systems.
African civil society organizations and international aid groups Friday applauded the health ministers for setting bold goals for the continent, but said action was needed.
– It is pointless for them to come up with these goals and then to go back to their ministers of finance to be told they do not have the money, said James Kamau, of the Kenya and Pan-African Treatment Access Movements.
– They need to make these goals legally binding to force implementation, he noted.
British aid agency Oxfams South Africa campaign coordinator Mark Wegerif said he hoped the G7 ministers meeting in Washington on Friday would heed the call made in the strategy for a “longer cycle of predictable, dependable and harmonized aid.”
Kilde: Xinhua og The Push Journal
