Stronger Healthcare Systems Critical for Africa ’s Socioeconomic Transformation

As Africa rebuilds following the pandemic, investment in the fight against malaria and NTDs will make healthcare systems more resilient and support longer-term pandemic preparedness. Credit: UNDP Kenya/James OchweriBy Claude Mambo MuvunyiKIGALI, Jun 22 2022 (IPS) Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare systems globally have battled to deal with the repercussions unleashed by the disease. From the outset, Africa was considered particularly vulnerable due to several factors: limited healthcare provision in some areas, high prevalence of HIV and TB in a number of countries, and limited fiscal room to respond to the pandemic’s financial impacts. Yet governments across the continent still managed to come together to respond to the pandemic with unprecedented speed. This was possible due to previous experience handling outbreaks such as Ebola, yellow fever and cholera, with systems put in place to deal with outbreaks. In many respects, Africa responded well. The need for increased investment in healthcare has never been clearer. Prioritizing domestic health is one of the best investments African countries can make in themselves to secure the vision for a prosperous and peaceful continent However, what began as a health crisis soon progressed into an economic crisis too. The pandemic tipped Africa into its first recession in 25 years. It increased extreme poverty on the continent for the first time in decades. Although African economies are slowly rebounding, the ...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Africa Headlines Health Poverty & SDGs TerraViva United Nations Source Type: news