By David Kipkorir
A recent report by World Health Organisation (WHO) shows that Africa annually loses over $2.4 trillion to diseases afflicting its 47 countries on the continent.
The UN health agency estimates that the loses translates to nearly 630 million years of healthy life lost in 2015 due to the diseases afflicting the population across its member states in Africa.
Launched recently in Cape Verde during the second WHO Africa Health Forum, the report is titled A Heavy Burden: The Productivity Cost of illness in Africa.
Non-communicable diseases have overtaken infectious diseases as the largest drain on productivity, accounting for 37 percent of the disease burden.
Other diseases that have contributed for lost healthy years are communicable and parasitic diseases; maternal, neonatal and nutrition-related conditions; and injuries.
WHO found that around 47 percent or $ 796 billion, of this lost productivity value could be avoided in 2030 if the Sustainable Development Goals related to these health conditions are achieved.
The WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr Matshidiso Moeti said in the report that four years into the implementation of countries’ efforts towards achieving UHC, current average expenditure on health in the region falls short of this expectation.
“Evidence indicates that countries will need to spend, on average, at least $271 per capita to achieve UHC,” she said.
The findings contained in the report suggest that health systems strengthening should focus on rich as well as poor countries, on all ages, on specific disease categories.
Five countries (Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania) accounted for almost 50 percent of total years lost in healthy life (or DALYs) accrued in the WHO African Region.
East Africa countries haven’t met the Abuja Declaration target of spending at least 15 percent of their GDP on health. Rwanda though is leading, spending 7.5 percent of its GDP on health, followed by Uganda at 7.2 percent, Kenya at 6 percent and Tanzania at 5.6 percent.
“This report illustrates how achievement of the critical health SDG targets, including universal health coverage, would contribute to poverty eradication efforts on a large scale, reduce disparities in lifespan, tackle social exclusion and promote political stability and economic development in the WHO African Region,” explains Grace Kabaniha, Health Economist in the WHO Regional Office for Africa.
Kabaniha said the data provides much-needed evidence that ministries of health can use to dialogue on resource allocation with ministries of finance.
“It adds to the body of evidence showing that health is a strategic investment for development”, she noted.
The report comes at a time when some health conditions, such as Ebola continue to ravage the region. Research on emerging infectious diseases needs to be identified as a priority.
The study says that effective control of diseases in Africa is not possible without collaboration across regional groups, national governments and continental institutions such as the African Development Bank and the African Union.
Partnerships across different funders of national health systems are also needed for success in fight against morbidity and premature mortality in Africa, the report suggest.
