Universal Health 2030 Solving Complex Health System Problems
September 2013 ANGOP;The WHO regional director for Africa, Luís Gomes Sambo, said on Wednesday in Brazzaville that health in Africa is facing various challenges and opportunities.
Luis Gomes Sambo said so when addressing the African health ministers and members of the organisation, who are attending from Monday to Friday the 63rd session of WHO Regional Committee for Africa.
At the level of challenges, the official underlined mainly the backwardness of progresses for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and the double burden of the communicable and non-communicable diseases.
The recurrence of epidemic diseases and other public health emergencies, poor infrastructures, mainly in the circulation and consumption of counterfeited medicines, resistance of antibiotic, crisis of human resources in the health area and sub-financing of the health sector are other challenges faced by the countries of the region.
Regarding the huge opportunities, the director highlighted the new accord between AU and WHO, signed in 2012, saying that it will strengthen a lot the fighting against diseases and will improve the mother and children’s health, as well as the access to the medicines of qualities and the average of economic growth in Africa, which is estimated at five per cent.
According to him, these huge opportunities will favour the investments in the health sector.
He said that the opportunities also include the underway reform of WHO, articulated in three aspects, namely the programmes and priorities, governance and management.
This reform, which is a strategic response to a world environment in full mutation, will permit WHO to be more effective and better response to the requests of the countries.
The established programmes and priorities, contained in the 12th General Programme of WHO works, are in line with the health priorities of the African Region.
