Sustaining the momentum toward Universal Health Coverage in Africa

I just returned from Uganda, where Novartis Social Business held its first African multi-stakeholder dialogue to discuss how to sustain the momentum toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in Africa.

I was struck by what Dr. Githinji Gitahi, Group CEO of Amref Health Africa, and one of our keynote speakers, said: “Africa’s choice is about poverty vs. prosperity, therefore investing in health is not a choice.”

While I am still digesting the takeaways from the vivid discussions between participants from 12 countries, here are the points I heard loud and clear:

• 40% of mortality in Africa is related to NCDs. In Kenya alone, as shared by Medtronics, the control rate for NCDs is below 4%. This means there is an urgency to tackle NCDs on the continent and we need to start now.
• We need to start with the funds available. In the same way people put aside resources to bury their loved ones, they should put aside money for their care, and that’s where hope lies.
• Improving health hinges on us all in the public and private sector gathering and sharing evidence of positive health impacts and on developing centralized care platforms.
• African governments say they are committed to UHC, but action is still slow. There is a need to see very strong political will not just from ministries of health, but also from finance ministries.

I also took away clear expectations from stakeholders present in the room toward Novartis. Our company has been working hard over the past four years to be recognized as a credible partner by the public sector, and we have been waiting to hear tangible expectations of us.

Africa’s choice is about poverty vs. prosperity, therefore investing in health is not a choice.

In Uganda, we heard a clear need to improve health awareness at the community level, training healthcare workers, and providing quality and affordable medicines. Our recent partnership with the ministry of health and the Protestant Medical Bureau in Uganda to train healthcare workers at national and community level is one of the ways we support these objectives.

There are many more discussion insights we need to reflect upon, and we will use these as a basis to continue to engage with partners and stakeholders.

For now, I would like to once again thank all attendees for taking the time to join. I also wish to extend my gratitude to our speakers and moderators for giving us food for thought. This is just the beginning of our dialogue.