Dr Luis Gomes Sambo was nominated by the WHO Regional Committee for Africa for the post of WHO Regional Director for Africa. Dr Sambo, 52, of Angolan nationality, is currently the Director of Programme Management at the WHO Regional Office for Africa (AFRO), where he is responsible for the management and operation of the programmes of WHO in the African region.
Equity in Health
The Challenge of Achieving Health Equity in Africa
What does equity in health and health care mean? Equality? A basic minimum standard of service? A system of entitlements?Global health professionals have struggled with a definition for some time. Dr Rene Loewenson, a Zimbabwean epidemiologist, presents a Southern African view: equity in health implies addressing differences in health status that are unnecessary, avoidable, and unfair, she says. This also means understanding and influencing, not only the way society allocates health resources, but the power relations involved.
Africa and the MDG's
This article, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), focuses on health as central to the achievement of all the millennium development goals (MDGs). Key challenges for health improvement include reversing the global HIV/AIDS epidemic and reducing child and maternal mortality. The authors acknowledge the need for more aid but argue that this is only part of the picture. To effectively absorb increases in aid, poor countries need strong, equitable health systems and institutions. They also need the capacity to deliver services, which includes having enough skilled staff.
Diagnosing TB in Africa: the quest for cheaper methods
The number of people infected with tuberculosis in sub-Saharan Africa has risen dramatically in the past 15 years, largely due to HIV infection. Bloodstream infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (mycobacteraemia) is a common cause of fever in sub-Saharan Africa, but diagnosis requires the help of specialists and a lengthy incubation period. Cheap and practical tests for eye disease such as the examination of the back of the eyeball (ophthalmoscopy) for choroidal granulomas could be an efficient alternative in the diagnosis of mycobacteraemia.
Meeting the MDG drinking-water and sanitation target
The combination of safe drinking water and hygienic sanitation facilities is a precondition for health and for success in the fight against poverty, hunger, child deaths and gender inequality. It is also central to the human rights and personal dignity of every woman, man and child on earth. Yet 2.6 billion people – half the developing world – lack even a simple ‘improved’ latrine. One person in six – more than 1 billion of our fellow human beings – has little choice but to use potentially harmful sources of water. The consequences of our collective failure to tackle this problem are dimmed prospects for the billions of people locked in a cycle of poverty and disease.
PRSP's - What significance for health?
In the main, Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) do not systematically identify those health issues which are the biggest contributors to poverty or the greatest brake on economic growth. Nor do they look systematically at the health situation of the poor – beyond noting that they tend to have the worst health outcomes and are unable to afford health care fees. A further important point is that PRSPs do not deliver on their potential to stimulate cross-sectoral action for health. This is according to a second synthesis report from the World Health Organisation, 'PRSP's - Their significance for health'.
WHO defends itself against Lancet article
An editorial in the August 7 issue of The Lancet painted a bleak picture of the work of WHO in the African Region, giving the impression that WHO is not recording any successes there. In fact, despite the challenges of poverty and ongoing instability, the opposite is true. For example, in spite of recent political difficulties, the number of polio-endemic countries in the African Region has fallen from 20 in 1999 to just two today. Huge efforts are underway to eliminate the disease completely.
Community effort in Zambia brings access to health care
Since the Kyafukuma Rural Health Clinic (RHC) in northwestern Zambia closed its doors in 2000 after the old building collapsed, villagers have had to make do with a cramped inadequate clinic. Now, growing frustration over the lack of satisfactory medical care has led to a community-driven initiative that promises improved access to health care. After years of waiting for the reopening of the RHC, a joint project by the state-sponsored Zambia Social Investment Fund (Zamsif) and local people is expected to hasten completion of a new RHC, including the construction and rehabilitation of quarters for five staff members.
Growing inequality in access to health services
People\'s Health Movement Statement
"On 2 - 4 July 2004, more than 530 delegates - including more than 80 health workers and representing over 60 organisations and institutions - met at the first People's Health Summit (PHS) to discuss the crisis and inequity in the health system and the roll-out of antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. While recognising the impact of the legacy of injustice and inequality of apartheid on the health service of our country and our people, delegates to the PHS expressed grave concern that in spite of many good policies, laws and programmes, the public health service is in crisis and the quality of many services is in decline."
Further details: /newsletter/id/30549
Monitoring access to basic health services
The second Equity Gauge seeks to place the goal of equitable health care within a broader framework that links socio-economic disparities with health outcomes. This publication highlights the fact that people do not get sick at random and that health is intimately tied up with living and working conditions. In focusing on this interdependence of socio-economic determinants with health outcomes, the document also points to the relationship between health status and geographical, racial and gender-related issues.