Der er ganske vist opløftende tegn i nogle lande, men i 1/4 af alle kontinentets stater bruger det offentlige mindre af budgettet på sundhedspleje, hospitaler m.v. end i 2001 – helt uanset at man lovede det stik modsatte for 12 år siden.
NAIROBI, 23 July 2013 (IRIN): Twelve years after African governments pledged in the Abuja Declaration to allocate at least 15 percent of their annual budgets to healthcare by 2015, just six countries have met this goal.
Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, Togo and Zambia have met the target, and five other countries are spending at least 13 percent of their annual budgets on health, according to data compiled by the UN World Health Organization (WHO).
While on aggregate (i gennemsnit) spending on health has increased – up to 10,6 percent from 8,8 – about a quarter of African Union (AU) member-states are now spending less on health than they were in 2001, adds the WHO data.
Recently, the AU held another special summit on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria in Abuja, Nigeria, dubbed Abuja +12.
The summit provided an opportunity for African governments and other stakeholders to review progress made and to discuss what should be done to ensure health funding targets are met before 2015.
The HIV/AIDS experience
“A renewed and bold commitment here in Abuja is essential as, drawing from experiences in the AIDS response, we know that smart investments will save lives, create jobs, reinvigorate communities and further boost economic growth in Africa,” said Michel Sidibé, the executive director of UNAIDS (FNs koordinerende organ for hiv/aids-bekæmpelse).
At present, funding for healthcare remains short of requirements and is very unevenly spread across countries. According to UNAIDS, an additional 31 billion US dollar (170 milliarder DKR) per year will be needed to meet the continent’s 15 percent health funding targets.
As of 2011, at least 69 percent of the world’s 34 million people estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS were in sub-Saharan Africa.
But there are encouraging signs. The number of new HIV infections fell to 25 percent in 2011 compared to a decade earlier.
“The main challenge in the fight against HIV and AIDS globally is how to ensure universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support, and… ensuring zero transmission of new HIV infections in children,” wrote Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama in a blog article in May.
Among 21 priority countries in Africa, the number of children newly infected with HIV has fallen by 38 percent since 2009, according to a joint AU-UNAIDS report launched at Abuja +12.
Malaria and TB burden
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