Africa-Press – Ethiopia. WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Mohamed Yakub Janabi, has stressed the need to advance innovative domestic financing and local manufacturing in order to realize a more resilient health system in Africa.
In an exclusive interview with ENA, he stated that financial and geopolitical crises as well as climate change are among the challenges facing the health sector.
To have a more resilient health system in the continent, the approaches of WHO will be based on the priorities of 47 member states, the regional director added.
Stating the significance of investing on primary health care and investing on community health workers who are closer to the population, Dr. Janabi stressed that “when talking of health sovereignty, we are talking about the countries’ responsibility of the health of their population.”
For the regional director, increasing the countries’ health budget based on the priorities of the respective countries is essential.
In this regard, he underscored the need to come up with innovative domestic financing, emphasizing the significance of involving the private sector as well.
It is generally known that the majority of medicines used in Africa are imported and this reliance on imports limits access to affordable and effective medications.
According to him, over 80 percent of the medicines and the products are produced outside the continent.
Innovative domestic financing and advancing local manufacturing are instrumental to ease import dependency along with building qualified healthcare workforce and using technology, he added.
The regional director therefore emphasized the need to have a proper assessment to see what the essentials are, and plan accordingly. It is vital that goes parallel with the respective regulatory system, the regional director elaborated.
Regarding the sharp decline of the global health fund for Africa and the next steps to take, Dr. Janabi affirmed that the aid was lifesaving, urging all pertinent stakeholders to cement collaboration to find new avenues for such emerging challenges.
“When it comes to innovative domestic financing, there are many ways which the governments can do, increasing the health budget, engaging with donors and stakeholders to try to channel the donation through the national institutes,” he said.
He urged all stakeholders in the sector to work together in a more coordinated manner to increase coherence, avoid duplication and fragmentation, among others.
The Regional Director’s high-level engagement with national authorities as well as representatives of AU, UN and development partners in Addis Ababa emphasized the significance of health financing and local manufacturing to strengthen health sovereignty and emergency preparedness and health priorities in the Africa.
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