Accra, Nov 23, GNA - Major Courage Quashigah (Rtd), Minister of Health, on Thursday called on African countries to allocate more money to their health sectors for proper delivery of health on the continent. He emphasised that the cost of the overwhelming disease burden in Africa in terms of labour loss, treatment and other inconveniences should be strong points enough "to convince our Finance Ministers to consider more investment in health if they have to save money on one hand and ensure high productivity from a healthier population for economic development".
Major Quashigah said this during a press briefing in Accra on the launch of the Wold Health Organisation Africa Regional Health Report (ARHR) titled, "The Health of the People: The African Regional Health Report."
The Minister noted that Africa was spending about 12 billion dollars annually on malaria treatment and loss of labour. Major Quashigah said for once the Report did not only carry "horrendous stories" about Africa but had some success stories from member countries as lessons or models that the rest of the member countries could adopt.
"The Report is clearly indicating collaborative approach to health issues for better and more cost effective results." Major Quashigah noted that the nationwide immunization against polio and measles vaccine, Vitamin A, de-worming and distribution of insecticide treated bed nets to over two million children in the country earlier this month saved at least 20,000 young lives who would have died before their fifth birthday.
He said no polio virus or deaths from measles had been reported in Ghana in the last three years.
Major Quashigah said since 2005, the Ministry had identified the sources of most of the preventable diseases such as malaria, typhoid, diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera and guinea worm as poor management of the environment, malnutrition and lack of understanding of food consumed. "We have therefore, drafted a new Health Policy under the slogan, "Creating Wealth Through Health" with a lot of focus on health promotion and prevention and identified the Ministries, Departments and Agencies whose activities impact on health.
"This is yielding good results as the population, through our aggressive sensitisation is getting to appreciate the need to take control of their own health."
The Report, the first of it kind released on Monday by the WHO, showed that Africa was making headway in solving some of its health problems.
Dr Joaquim Saweka, WHO Country Representative in Ghana, said economic development was impossible without major investment to apply tried and tested health-care interventions that work. He stressed that governments of the African region and their development partners needed to invest more in health care. "Their partners need to increase donor funds to scale up tried and tested public health interventions."
He said limited development was largely attributable to the region's immense burden of infectious diseases, particularly HIV/ AIDS, tuberculoses and malaria.
Last Monday, the first WHO Report to focus on the health of the people living in the 46 countries of WHO African Region was launched in Addis Ababa.
The Ethiopian Health Minister, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, described it as ''a refreshing departure from past gloomy reports on the African situation because while it acknowledges existing challenges, it offers practical, low-cost, affordable solutions, which have worked in some countries in the region and could serve as models in others''.
The 170-page report provides a panoramic view of key public challenges facing the African region, initiatives and programmes intended to tackle these and successes recorded to date. It charts the progress made and prospects for the future of health in the region under six chapters: Health and development in Africa; Maternal, newborn and child health, Infectious diseases in Africa; Non-communicable diseases in Africa; Health and the environment in Africa and National health systems.
WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr. Luis Sambo said that the Report was a milestone in the work of WHO in the region and thanked the African Union for its support in the preparation of the report.