Stakeholders in the health sector have called on African countries to engage in domestic resource mobilization to enhance the continent’s health security system.
They made the call at the Africa Regional Advocacy Summit for NGO’s and the Media in Abuja, organized by the Africa Health Budget Network, AHBN.
The Coordinator, AHBN, Dr. Aminu Magashi explained that the summit aims to build capacity of participants to engage their heads of States including ministries of health, finance and Parliamentarians to ensure accountable and transparent disbursement of resources for health security in the region.
According to him, delegates drawn from eight African countries including Nigeria, were meant to promote peer learning and exchange ideas on best practices to improve domestic resource utilization for health security.
“Its important to support the Government in setting up priorities for the health sector, and also for domestic resource mobilization. We are not necessarily looking for Government to increase money overall, but to look at the existing budget and reduce wasteful ventures and spending and also reduce ineffeciency.”
The Programme manager, Health Sector Reform Foundation, HERFON, Dr Opeyemi Adeosun, called on African countries to establish health systems in preparation for the next pandemic at all levels of government.
Participants from Sierra Leone, David Allieu, and his Ugandan counterpart, Jovlet- Sarah-Nankinga, called on their countries to involve those at the grassroots in disease response and to establish special emergency funds for disease response.
Participants from Uganda, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Senegal and Nigeria are attending the conference.
Reporting by Emmanuel Kutara; editing by Julian Osamoto