President John Agyekum Kufuor, yesterday urged African members of the World Health Organisation (WHO) to strengthen their roles by actively involving themselves in the search of improving the health of the people.

The President said, "We cannot pretend to be pursuing a developmental agenda when our people suffer an inordinate burden of diseases and disabilities."

The President said this in a speech read for him by Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Tourism and Modernisation of the Capital City at the opening of a three-day retreat meeting of the Executive Board of WHO in Accra.

President Kufuor said, "Africa carries the highest burden of diseases and yet we invest the least in health care which is shared by the more privileged countries and the changing demand on our meagre resources." Ghana is the first country in Africa to host a WHO Executive Board Meeting and the first of its kind to be held outside Geneva since its establishment in 1948.

The 32 member countries forming the board with directors from WHO headquaters, six regional directors and the Director-General are attending the meeting. The meeting would discuss health issues, including malaria, tuberculosis, migration of health professionals and the HIV/AIDS.

President Kufuor noted that there was the need for a rapid strategic change and a new direction in the distribution of resources for health development for the African continent. He called on African governments to re-dedicate their commitments and to see health as not only a universal right but also a duty from which stems necessity for all to meet the primary needs of the disinherited.

President Kufuor said Africans could make the necessary contributions to global development when "our countries cannot realise the full potentials of their citizens". He said technological advancement in one way or the other has brought about poverty and ignorance causing high incidence of diseases and disabilities.

The President entreated all governments to keep high on the political agenda the fight against HIV/AIDS, "which will mean working effectively towards the harmonisation of priorities in the area of health development".

Dr Jong-Wook Lee, Director General of WHO, reiterated his commitment to provide antiretroviral therapy for 3 million HIV/AIDS infected persons in the developing countries by the end of 2005. He said to achieve this goal, it will require mobilisation of resources, diagnosis and treatment on a large scale adding, "in doing so it will catalyse the rebuilding of health systems of countries involved".

Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Minister for Health and also the chairman of the WHO executive board, observed that the resurgence of controlled and emergence of new diseases pose challenges to mankind notably, the fast spreading of HIV/AIDS and the recent SARS. He pledged the executive board's commitment to finding a lasting solution to the devastating diseases that has plagued the continent.