Less than 10 countries in Africa have managed to increase their national health budgets to at least 15% of national budgets as stipulated by the Abuja Declaration on health budgets, the Community Working Group on Health Zimbabwe (CWGH) has said.
BY VENERANDA LANGA
CWGH executive director Itai Rusike said failure by governments to allocate adequate finances to the health budgets would result in unsuccessful implementation of health Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
“Thirteen years after the Abuja Declaration on Health, less than 10 countries in Africa have increased their national or provincial health budgets to at least 15%, as stipulated in the declaration,” Rusike said.
“The way a healthcare system is designed, financed and performs has consequences for inequality and, for example, user fees prevent people from accessing healthcare and push over 100 million people each year into poverty.”
Countries that have allocated at least 15% of their national budget towards health include Botswana, Rwanda, Niger, Malawi, Zambia, Burkina Faso and South Africa.
“Achieving these goals is, first and foremost, a political process and involves political negotiation between different interest groups in society over what services are provided, how services are allocated and who should fund them,” CWGH said.
Rusike said as a result civic organisations in Africa came together to form a network, African Platform for Universal Health Coverage, to remind African leaders of their duty to shape health policies so that everyone can enjoy their right to health.
