As African communities continue feeling the heat of funding
cuts by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), especially in the health sector, governments, partners and non-government
organisations are meeting in Rwanda for the Africa Health Agenda International
Conference (AHAIC).
The conference, convened by Amref Health Africa, the Rwanda Ministry of
Health, World Health Organization Africa (WHO AFRO), and the Africa Centre for
Disease Control (Africa CDC) sought to rethink ways to raise funding for health
response on the continent.
Even though health leaders in Africa expressed their
uncertainty that health systems were facing after the funding cuts, they were
optimistic that African governments would absorb the shocks and work together
to cushion communities from all the emergencies the cuts would bring
forth.
Speaking during a media briefing on Sunday ahead of the
conference, the WHO Acting Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu
reassured WHO’s commitment to working alongside African governments to address
funding gaps, especially in areas previously supported by USAID and other
donors, reminding them of the purpose for which WHO was formed in the first
place.
“Seventy-five years ago, countries around the world came
together to say, listen, there are issues that we cannot deal with on our own,
and we need a global platform to organize ourselves to deal with those things that
we cannot manage on our own,” Dr. Ihekweazu said.
“Seventy-five years
later, that instinct hasn't changed. Because any country changes with
leadership, the instinct is the challenges are still there, the need for us to
collaborate is still there, and I think we will find a way to navigate this.”
He further emphasized the need for governments to come together and collaborate to overcome the challenges they face.
“From our perspective, we've said we continue to welcome all
the countries to see the benefit of collaborating, and the doors remain open to
continue that collaboration. And we hope that by the time the impact becomes
obvious, that reason will prevail and we will come back together to deal with
the real challenges that we have every day,” he said.
Dr. Claudia Shilumani, the Director of External Relations
and Strategic Management at Africa CDC, called on Africa to assert its health
sovereignty, emphasizing that self-sufficiency is key to securing the
continent’s health future.
“If we prioritize self-sufficiency in healthcare—developing,
producing, and distributing our vaccines, medicines, and medical
technologies—the centre will hold. We must also invest in a robust African
health workforce to drive this vision forward.”
Dr. Shilumani lauded Rwanda’s leadership in exploring
internal health financing solutions, marking a major step toward reducing
dependence on foreign aid.
“Africa must lead its health agenda by investing in homegrown solutions, domestic resource mobilization, and innovative public-private partnerships.”
Amref Health Africa Group CEO Dr. Githinji Gitahi, reminded
African leaders and global stakeholders to rethink health investments to build
resilient and sustainable health systems, adding that donor funding is not an
entitlement and that individual countries are at liberty to revise their funding
policies and priorities.
He emphasized that health care financing is linked to
Africa’s economic and population growth challenges.
“Sub-Saharan Africa, unlike other parts of the world, has
the largest burden of infectious diseases, and yet now we have a unique
challenge that whereas these diseases are here with us, we have rising barriers
of non-communicable diseases at the same time, meaning that the health systems
we have today, will not be the health systems we need tomorrow, because it
requires a completely different mindset, though with the same foundations of
primary health care,” Dr. Githinji said.
Dr. Githinji stressed the need to shift investments toward
Primary Health Care (PHC), warning that disproportionate funding for tertiary
care leaves millions without access to essential services.
“For decades, we have called for prioritizing primary
healthcare, as outlined in the 1978 Alma-Ata Declaration. Yet, we continue to
mop the floor instead of fixing the leaking tap. If we want sustainable health
systems, we must redirect investments to PHC, where 80% of our people seek
care.”
Dr. Githinji continued to encourage African governments to
shift their mindsets from the funding promises and focus on the vulnerable
communities that they serve.
“If we shift our mindset from these resources that are leaving
our continent, from our institutions and our governments and we shift them to
protecting the communities that were beneficiaries of these funds in the first
place, it would allow us then to go back and repurpose because we are focusing
not on institutional money, and that should be our first step,” Dr. Githinji
said.
