Africa health Systems need to be re-engineered

The.Black.Templar

Elder Lister
Staff member
The World Health Organisation projects that up to 190,000 deaths could occur over the next year if the pandemic is not controlled.

According to UNICEF, pneumonia is the leading cause of death in children in Africa. It has been very prevalent, in 2015 more than 490,000 children under-five died from the disease in sub-Saharan Africa. African governments have always relied on external funding to fight pneumonia, this means that the governments always tend to look away and ignore these cases because others are 'taking care' of the situation on their behalf.

in 2016, an estimated 417,000 people died from the disease in Africa, the infection rates were reported to be as high as 2.5 million. There is still alot of external funding going towards the fight and eradication of TB by 2030.

In light of these facts, corona is the one infection that caused the economies in Africa to grind to a halt. In defence when COVID 19 first broke out there was little information for evidence based decision making. But we now have the statistics and can model what the future holds for Africa. As governments plan for this, let them plan for the whole of the health industry, we need to collaborate more and not just wait for the west as they go about their normal businesses.

Further, here in Kenya the government needs to put in place proper permanent measures to strengthen the health industry, not just word of mouth. Just the same way they took over the Nairobi county, they need to take back the health sector from the county governments, health knows no tribe or regional concerns and whatever measures that will be implemented need to be equal across the whole nation.
 
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