Good Health Care for Africa Depends on Health Workers and Good Governance

April 25, 2017Countries need good health governance at all levels.  When he was just a little boy,my colleague Peter woke up in the middle of the night to hear his mother shouting for him. His baby sister was terribly ill, and Peter ’s mother needed him to run fetch the village nurse.He did —through the pitch-black darkness and the pouring rain.Their village in Kenya did not have electricity or cell phones at the time, but they knew they could count on nurse Winifred, because she was highly skilled, and always close by.This nurse ’s proximity to the people who needed her saved a baby’s life that night. And who can say how many others in that remote part of Kenya are alive today because of her?When it comes to improving global health, we know that health workers are essential.Fortunately, more countries today are working hard to make lifesaving health services available closer to the people who most need them. Decentralization —or the process of shifting greater authority to manage health care from the central to the local level—has been key in many countries.In Kenya, it is transforming health care in areas such as Turkana County, in large part because of itsbooming health workforce. And Senegal is making great progress toward this shift as well, in part byinvesting in community health workers and integrating them into the overall health system.When it comes to improving global health —whether it’s reducing the number of women who die in childbirth or eradica...
Source: IntraHealth International - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Source Type: news