[NAIROBI] According to a report, less than half of Africa’s population receives the health services they need, with vulnerable groups, including gay people and the disabled, being left behind.
African health systems fail to meet the needs of the poor, disabled, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender and homosexuals (LGBT), with challenges ranging from discrimination and stigma to health facilities. ill-conceived health, according to the Report of the Commission of the International Conference on the Agenda for Health in Africa (AHAIC).
According to a study conducted in 2019 in South Africa, healthcare workers are not trained to deal with the LGBT population seeking healthcare services. LGBT people are subject to verbal abuse and denial of medical services by healthcare workers.
“African countries continue to suffer from the burden of diseases which can be drastically reduced through UHC”
Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya
Another study published in January of this year on adopting daily pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV infections among transgender women and gay men in Kenya found that stigma in health services led to program dropouts.
Transgender women and gay men have been asked questions by health workers about their sexual orientation, which has led to dropouts, thus undermining efforts to achieve the goal of zero new HIV infections.
Coverage of services for women and girls is also low, the AHAIC Commission report launched March 8-10 at a virtual conference said. Between 2015 and 2019, 51% of African women and girls were unable to access modern family planning methods.
In Malawi, stroke patients were unable to access health services because they could not walk, the report added, highlighting the problems faced by people with reduced mobility.
“COVID-19 has revealed many inefficiencies in our health systems. It has shown that health is not just the business of health care providers but that it concerns everyone, ”said Solange Hakiba, commission co-chair and head of USAID-Rwanda.
A low-quality health service is the worst performing indicator of universal health coverage (UHC) in Africa, with 48% of the population unable to access the health services they need, according to the commission.
Solange Hakiba called for focusing on funding primary health care and non-communicable diseases such as cancer as “they weaken the African population”.
The report finds that inequalities in health care delivery such as demand for and access to family planning services are four times higher among the rich than among the poor. The World Health Organization says 11 million Africans fall into poverty each year due to high out-of-pocket payments.
The virtual conference, organized by Amref Health Africa, brought together more than 3,000 participants from governments, the private sector, and academic and research institutions in Africa and beyond.
Inclusion
Jonathan Dangana, a technical advisor at Amref with expertise in universal health coverage, said segments of the population such as adolescents, young people and people with special needs are at risk of being excluded.
He added that the inclusion of these groups is essential to redefine the African discourse on achieving UHC as this category constitutes more than half of the African population.
Jonathan Dangana explained that the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the urgent need to achieve universal health coverage through legislation and a review of primary health care strategies.
The latter, who is also a lecturer in the public health department at Babcock University in Nigeria, told SciDev.Net that the AHAIC Commission has identified the root causes of poor health services such as shortages in the workforce. work and strong dependence on funding from donors.
Shortcomings that could be resolved by prioritizing budget allocations and financing health care.
“It means seeing health as an investment and not just a simple social responsibility,” says Jonathan Dangana. “Primary health care is essential in making and ensuring that health care is accessible to all. Therefore, with a functioning primary health care system in place, achieving UHC naturally becomes [facile] He said.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta told the conference that Africa needs to do much more to achieve UHC and the third goal of the UN’s 2030 Agenda on sustainable development.
“African countries continue to suffer from the burden of diseases which can be drastically reduced through UHC,” he said, adding that simple hygienic acts such as hand washing could drastically reduce some viral diseases affecting the Africans.
The original version of this article was produced by the English edition of SciDev.Net for Sub-Saharan Africa.
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