Call for investment in African health

African governments must divert more resources into their decrepit and crumbling health services, a conference in Addis Ababa heard on Wednesday. But the continent needs a staggering US $38 billion to bring its health facilities up to scratch, the meeting hosted by the UN’s World Health Organisation (WHO) was told. Some 14 nations are holding a key five-day summit to draw up plans for tackling the health crisis on the continent and to achieve the crucial UN 2015 millennium development goals. The strategy – under the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health – aims to boost investments by African governments and by rich nations. The commission estimates that developing countries need to be ploughing in around US $40 per person per year to provide adequate health care. “This level of investment is beyond the reach of very many poor countries in Africa in the foreseeable future,” Ethiopia’s Health Minister Dr Kebede Tadesse pointed out. He urged rich nations to provide greater financial support if the continent was to avoid a social and economic collapse because of inadequate health facilities. Angela Benson, head of the WHO in Ethiopia said Africa stood at the “dawn” of a major development breakthrough and needed to seize the initiative. But developing countries at the conference complained that often their health experts left the country soon after receiving training – lured by the incomes they could earn overseas. Many said that rich nations would often fund projects and initiatives for a short time – so that eventually projects grind to a halt due to a lack of cash. Dr Agnes Leotsakos, from the macroeconomics and health unit with the WHO, told IRIN it was vital that countries target the poor. “We need more money spent in health and we need to start prioritising it,” Dr Leotsakos, from WHO headquarters in Geneva, said. “Our focus needs to be on the poor.”