WELBODI EPISODE 192 – THE EVOLUTION OF PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEMS IN AFRICA
In this edition, we will be talking about the state of Public Health systems in Africa, the challenges, and efforts to improve and promote the health of the population.
Now, let’s begin with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal, SDG 3 which aspires to ensure health and well-being for all, including a bold commitment to end the epidemics of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other communicable diseases by 2030.
It also aims to achieve universal health coverage and provide access to safe and effective medicines and vaccines for all.
However, the majority of countries in the African Region seem to not be on track to achieve these health-related goals due to gaps in the continent’s public health systems.
Africa, especially our subregion West Africa, faces a double burden of infectious and chronic diseases.
While infectious diseases still account for at least 69% of deaths on the continent, age-specific mortality rates from chronic conditions, as a whole, are higher in sub–Saharan Africa than in virtually all other regions of the world, for both men and women, according to the World Health Organization, WHO.
