STAKEHOLDERS CALL FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF HEALTH SECURITY SYSTEMS IN AFRICA
By: Safiya Abdulrahim Dabban
Stakeholders in the health sector have stressed the need for African countries to engage in domestic resource mobilization to enhance the continent’s health security system.
They made the call at the Africa Regional Advocacy Summit for NGO’s and the Media in Abuja organized by the Africa Health Budget Network, AHBN.
The Coordinator, AHBN, Dr. Aminu Magashi, who said delegates were drawn from eight African countries including Nigeria, noted that the summit is to promote peer learning and exchange ideas on best practices in improving domestic resource utilization for health security.
He also said, the summit aims to build capacity of participants to engage their heads of States as well as ministries of health, finance and Parliamentarians on ensuring accountable and transparent disbursement of resources for health security.
“Its important to support the Government in setting up priorities for the health sector, and also for domestic resource mobilization. We are not necessarily looking for Government to increase money overall, but to look at the existing budget and reduce wasteful ventures and spending and also reduce ineffeciency.”
The Programme manager, Health Sector Reform Foundation, HERFON, Dr Opeyemi Adeosun, called on African countries to establish health systems in preparation for the next pandemic at all levels of government.
Participants from Sierra Leone, David Allieu, and his Ugandan counterpart, Jovlet- Sarah-Nankinga, called on their countries to involve those at the grassroots in disease response and to establish special emergency funds for disease response.
Our correspondent reports that participants from Uganda, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Senegal and Nigeria are attending the conference.