This Saturday, 9 February 2019, African Heads of State and Government, business leaders and global health organisations are gathering in Addis Ababa to launch a new initiative designed to help deliver increased, sustained and more impactful financing for health across Africa.
The meeting to be hosted by the African Union will be chaired President Paul Kagame who is also the current Chairperson of the African Union is themed as ‘Africa Leadership Meeting: Investing in Health’.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres, the Co-Chair and Founder of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates and Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg are among special guests in the meeting.
African countries are gradually increasing domestic investments in health with 35 out of 55 AU Member States (over 64%) having increased the percentage of their DP invested in health over the previous financial year, according to the 2018 WHO Global Health Expenditure Database.
Despite huge steps African countries have made in increasing domestic investments in health, only two out of the 55 AU Member States meet Africa’s target of dedicating at least 15% of the government budget to health and do not reach the suggested threshold of US$86.30 per person required to provide a basic package of health services.
More than half of Africa’s population currently lack access to essential health services, and millions die every year from commonly preventable diseases.
Tomorrow, Sunday, President Kagame will gather with his fellow African Heads of States for the 32nd Ordinary Session of the African Union which will be the last for him as AU Chairperson.
Kagame who has been AU Chairperson since January 28th 2018 will be replaced by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
It will always be remembered that it is during Kagame’s mandate as the Chairperson of the African Union that the African countries signed the historical African Continental Free Trade Agreement among other achievements.
49 of the 55 AU Member States have signed the AfCTA that was signed on March 21, 2018.
President Paul Kagame will continue to serve as the leader of the African Union institutional reforms, a role he was mandated by his fellow African Heads of States and Government in 2016.
Leave a Reply