About 300 Health researchers and scientists have gathered in Rwanda attending the 4th Annual East African Health and Scientific Conference.
The conference(March 27-29) is themed ‘Regional Health Priorities and opportunities: ‘evidence for action in the changing financial situation’.
Throughout the conference EAC member countries will exchange knowledge and skills needed to improve regional Health Sector.
While officiating opening the conference, Prime Minister Dr. Pierre Habumuremyi urged EAC member countries to tackle health challenges in collaborative manner.
He said that as a way of supporting initiatives of protecting health of citizens, Rwandan Parliament has approved the law governing tobacco control and it is yet to be published in the official gazette.
Jessica Elliyo, the Deputy Secretary General in Productive and social Sector of EAC appealed to EAC Governments for support of establishment of EAC Research Commission that will be in charge of providing scientific information so that policy makers should base on it to formulate policies that respond to regional Health issues.
Prof. Khama Rogo, a Health Specialist from World Bank challenged EAC countries on the slow progress toward the Health Millenium development Goal adding that the problem in this region is not a matter of money to fund Health sector but the way the money is used can be a problem.
Khama said currently Africa has about 175 Global initiatives funding Health sector but results of the funding are still an issue.
Many poor citizens are still struggling to get insurance due to limited resources.
However, Prof Khama commended Rwanda for the significant coverage of Health insurance attaining 90% of people who have the insurance.
He called upon EAC member countries to emulate Rwanda.
Leave a Reply