A new Lancet Commission says closing health gaps in Africa is possible within a generation, but adds bold steps must be taken to speed up the pace of progress.
The commission “The Path to Longer and Healthier Lives for all Africans by 2030” is based on four-year project to study the challenges and opportunities for health in sub-Saharan Africa.
It finds young people will be key to bringing about changes required, with the youth population set to almost double to 450 million by 2050.
Professor Nelson Sewankambo of Uganda’s Makerere University College of Health Sciences and co-author of the report says, “The spirit of this Commission is one of evidence-based optimism, with caution. We recognise that major health inequities exist and that health outcomes are worst in fragile countries, rural areas, urban slums, and conflict zones, and among poor, disabled, and marginalised people.
“But the evidence shows us that there is a clear opportunity for Africa to improve health on its own terms, and largely with its own resources.”
More than 20 health leaders from across Africa—from policy makers and academics to clinicians and entrepreneurs—co authored the report.
It said closing the health gap for Africa within a generation is achievable if opportunities afforded by a rapidly growing workforce are seized and if health systems are transformed to target the needs of individual countries and communities, the Lancet Commission said.
“Opportunities ahead cannot be unlocked by keeping to the same pace and using more of the same approach to health systems,” says co-author Dr Nduku Kilonzo, chief executive officer of Kenya’s National AIDS Control Council.
“We need to pay as much attention to preventing ill-health and keeping people healthy as we do to treating them when they are sick.”
The report also shows major health milestones are within reach, but insists emerging challenges must be tackled to prevent a double epidemic of infectious and chronic diseases such as stroke, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
It urges that “increased, more sustainable and efficient funding” is key to reaching a recommended minimum target of $86 per head of health spending.
In 2014, health spending in 32 sub-Saharan countries was less than 3% of their gross domestic product.
It adds that the continent has opportunity to stem rise in chronic disease rates by tackling the tobacco epidemic.
“The prevention of a major tobacco epidemic could be sub-Saharan Africa’s greatest historic public health opportunity,” adds co-author Professor Peter Piot, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
“A major question for Africa is whether a rise in chronic conditions can be prevented, or whether a perverse kind of convergence will occur, with prevalence rates on par with the rest of the world.”
Dr Myriam Sidibe, Social Mission Director, Unilever Africa in Kenya, and co-author of the report adds: “The report highlights the importance of public-private partnerships in moving Africa’s health agenda forward. Several innovative initiatives demonstrate the power of partnerships in enabling delivery of change at a scale to make a real impact.
“Two examples include the private sectors participation in the large-scale hand sanitation that was part of the Ebola response in West Africa, and programmes in partnership with Ministries of Health and soap manufacturers that target reduction in neonatal mortality by training health workers and ensuring access to soap in health facilities. These interventions have helped to teach almost 100 million people in Africa about the importance of handwashing with soap as a key prevention measures to life-threatening diseases.”
