AFRICA: Healthcare discussed as "AIDS Marshall Plan" mooted

African health ministers and a variety of medical officials are meeting in Nairobi to discuss ways of creating viable healthcare systems on the continent. The workshop, convened by the NGO International Medical Exchange (IME), began on Tuesday and will run until Saturday. One of its themes is building partnerships. "The partnerships will support African healthcare systems, deal with medical emergencies, the threat posed by HIV/AIDS and other key health problems," an IME statement said. "The workshop is not a problem-solving one, but an information exchange forum looking at the concerns of health ministries regionally and the changing nature of partnership between governments and donors in the health sector," a participant told IRIN on Wednesday. "Delivery, financing and quality of healthcare are to be reviewed." Participants are drawn from African ministries of health, selected bilateral and multilateral agencies, corporate organisations and NGOs to help build broad based partnerships at local, national, regional and international level. According to 'The EastAfrican' weekly, one of the participants is former US congressman Ronald Dellums who has been lobbying the US government to coordinate an "AIDS Marshall Plan for Africa". The plan is aimed bringing together the US government and the country's scientific and medical community in an unprecedented effort to reverse the spread of AIDS in Africa.