Invest in health, African countries told

African countries must invest heavily in health in order to overcome obstacles to the achievement of their development goals, the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general for the continent, Ibrahim Samba, said on Thursday. "This would constitute an excellent strategy in the fight against poverty," Samba said at a WHO subcommittee meeting of 12 African countries in Brazzaville, capital of Republic of Congo. The meeting was held to discuss issues linking investment in health to economic development and poverty reduction. Participants discussed issues such as the need to improve working conditions at hospitals so as to motivate and retain qualified staff, the treatment of shock resulting from serious injury, and the provision of clean food. They also discussed research into traditional medicines in the fight against HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis; problems of the health of women, particularly rural women; the promotion of the education of girls and ways of improving the fight against malaria and tuberculosis. The WHO subcommittee comprises representative of 12 African countries, two from member-countries of the WHO executive council - Gabon and The Gambia - and a representative of the African Consultative Committee for Health Research and Development. The meeting was in preparation for WHO's 53rd African Regional Committee meeting due to be held from 1 to 5 September in Johannesburg, South Africa.