While Africa’s population still faces many health challenges, businesses on the continent should be aware of the role they can play in driving better health for all.
This year the World Health Organisation celebrates its 75th anniversary, providing an opportunity to not only consider its many public health successes over the year, but also the way forward when it comes to tackling the health challenges which the world still faces today in the 21st century.
According to the National Library of Medicine the top four problems of the health sector in African countries identified by individual participants were inadequate human resources, poor resource allocation to health, poor maintenance of healthcare system infrastructure and lack of political will.
The rest includes lack of access to healthcare, weak healthcare systems, high disease burden, healthcare system corruption, poor leadership and administration, non-use of evidence-based intervention, poor quality of healthcare services, lack of good resource management, weak training and education of healthcare workers, weak healthcare management information systems (HMIS), non-prioritisation of healthcare activities, and professional rivalry, as shown.
Life expectancy in Africa has recently increased in the region, growing from 46 in 2000 to 56 years in 2019. This represents the highest increase in any WHO region for the same period, explains Dr Kety Guambe, deputy medical director for International SOS, Mozambique. “However, it must be noted that the continent is coming from a very low base, with current levels still lower than the rest of the world.”
According to research which suggests that non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes are increasingly becoming the main cause of mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. This is largely due to weaknesses in the implementation of critical control measures, including prevention, diagnosis and care which should be tackled with immediate effect.
