But, What Do We Mean by Low-Resource Settings Really?

You heard right?

What do we mean by Low Resource Settings really?

According to the UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) 2020 report, an estimated $88.6 billion is lost as illicit capital flight annually in Africa. This is $11 billion shy of Africa's annual expenditure on health.

We see here a rather different picture from the expected low resource agenda so commonly painted as an African theme. It just goes to show more misuse rather than a lack of resources.

With such a huge loss of funds, Governments are forced to cut down on expenditure. Studies show that African countries with high IFFs have 25% less spending on health.

The bottom-line truth is that some of the poorest economies are the most corrupt. The cyclic effect is that they get poorer and then more corrupt and the cycle never ends.

In 2021, Sub-Saharan Africa, a major culprit often cited in matters to do with low-resource settings, spent about $90 billion on healthcare. This fell way short of the estimated annual $200 billion expenditure with at least $271 per capita according to a World Health Organization report.

Yet in approximation, $25.2 billion was lost to illicit financial flows in Sub-Saharan Africa.

What does redirecting the $89 billion entirely to healthcare mean for Africa?

It would top up the healthcare spending to about $189 billion and cover a major portion of the World Health Organization recommended per capita spending. Dividing the increased funds by an estimated population of 1.5 billion yields a per capita spending of $59.3 raising the current $66 per capita to $125. That would be significant progress placing Africa slightly over the 50% mark toward achieving the recommended $271 per capita.

In seeking to address the burden of disease in Africa, there is a necessary need to address the misuse of funds which is one of the root causes of the label Low Resource Settings.

Africa HealthTech

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