Kofi Annan focused on the progress of Africa in the 5th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg, saying it needed to be balanced on three pillars: security, development and human rights. The past secretary-general of the United Nations, said significant progress had been made in Africa in relation to all three of these pillars, yet much still needed to be done. He noted, that more than 300-million people in sub-Saharan Africa live on less than $1 a day, and are “starved not only for food, but for opportunity and hope”. Mr Annan was critical of the imbalances of globalisation, and said the world’s rich needed to help the poor, because “If some of us are poor, we are all poorer.” He further pointed out: “We live in an era of inter dependence … [which] in some ways is more obvious in Africa than anywhere else,” he said.
Equity in Health
At the midway point between their adoption in 2000 and the 2015 target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, sub-Saharan Africa is not on track to achieve any of the Goals. Although there have been major gains in several areas and the Goals remain achievable in most African nations, even the best governed countries on the continent have not been able to make sufficient progress in reducing extreme poverty in its many forms. This UN report outlines the current indicators and gives some success stories. It observes that existing commitments made and reaffirmed by world leaders at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles and the 2005 World Summit are sufficient to meet the Goals. At the midway point of 2007, these commitments must be urgently translated into practical plans with systematic follow-through.
WHO presents country data on the burden of disease preventable through healthier environments. These estimates provide the stepping stone for informed policy making in disease prevention. The country profiles provide an overview of summary information on selected parameters that describe the environmental health situation of a country, as well as a preliminary estimate of health impacts caused by environmental risks.
The report includes a Mothers’ Index, which identifies the best and worst countries to be a mother and child-based on a comprehensive look at child and maternal well-being in 140 countries. To succeed in saving the lives of children under 5, Save the Children recommends that countries: ensure the well-being of mothers; invest in basic, low-cost solutions to save children’s lives; make health care available to the poorest and most vulnerable mothers and children; increase funding and improve strategies to provide basic, effective, lifesaving services to those who most need it.
The theme for this conference was: “Strengthening of Health Systems for Equity and Development in Africa”, with emphasis on the Africa Health Strategy 2007-2015. Africa has made significant strides in certain areas of social and economic development but has the potential to achieve even more if it can overcome the large burden of disease which continues to be a barrier to faster development. This has prompted the African Union Ministers of Health to harmonise all existing health strategies by drawing this Africa Health Strategy which Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and other regional entities and Member States can use to enrich their strategies, depending on their peculiar challenges. The Strategy neither competes with nor negates other health strategies but seeks to complement other specific and detailed strategies by adding value from the unique perspective of the African Union. It provides a strategic direction to Africa’s efforts in creating better health for all.
The 8th meeting of the Africa Partnership Forum (APF) took place from 22-23 May 2007 in Berlin, just two weeks before the G8 Heiligendamm summit. Participants included Personal Representatives for the G8-Africa Process coming from G8 and OECD countries and from African member states of the NEPAD steering committee. Participants discussed four key areas affecting Africa: investment, gender, climate change, and peace and security. Through the intensive dialogue between the G8 Africa Personal Representatives and the African partners in preparing the APF, this year’s APF developed substantive recommendations for the G8 summit as well as for the AU summit, thus following up the joint work on the G8 Africa Action Plan adopted in Kananaskis in 2002.
Growing scientific evidence points to the pervasiveness of inequities in health and health care and the persistence of the inverse care law, that is the availability of good quality healthcare seems to be inversely related to the need for it in developing countries. Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals is likely to be compromised if inequities in health/healthcare are not properly addressed.
The World Health Assembly (WHA), the supreme decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO), wrapped-up its sixtieth session today, reaching last-minute agreement on two key resolutions on Pandemic influenza preparedness and Public health, innovation and intellectual property. More than 2400 people from WHO's 193 Member States, nongovernmental organizations and other observers attended the meeting which took place from 14-23 May.
The 44th Health Ministers' Conference meeting was attended by Hon Ministers of Health and senior officials from member states in east, central and southern Africa, health experts, and collaborating partners. The theme of the conference was “Scaling up cost effective interventions to attain the Millennium Development Goals”. The conference approved and adopted resolutions based on the sub themes of the conference that are presented in this document.
The last quarter of the twentieth century saw little investment in international health or in the health problems of the world's poor. Over the past few years, as Laurie Garrett notes, "driven by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, a marvelous momentum for health assistance has been built and shows no signs of abating." But after this upbeat introduction, Garrett proceeds to lay out the perils associated with this new momentum, chief among them that an influx of AIDS money has drawn attention away from other health problems of the poor, weakened public health systems, contributed to brain drain, and failed to reach those most in need.