A World Health Organisation report says Africa’s health systems remain weak and way behind other regions of the world, particularly maternal health, and if conditions do not improve, it will not meet all its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
News24 reports that in a statement, released with the WHO Atlas for Africa 2022 (a report that outlines the continent’s health status), the agency highlighted inadequate investment in health and funding for health programmes as being some of the major drawbacks to meeting the SDG on health.
The 2022 WHO survey of 47 African countries found that the region has a ratio of 1.55 health workers (physicians, nurses and midwives) per 1 000 people, below the WHO threshold density of 4.45 health workers per 1 000 people needed to deliver essential health services and achieve universal health coverage.
The Atlas report said because of this, “65% of births are attended by skilled health personnel – the lowest globally and far off the 2030 target of 90%”.
With the West actively recruiting nurses and nurse aides from the African continent to supplement their health needs, things could get even worse.
The continent needs to reduce neonatal deaths, with death rates higher than the average of 13 fatalities per 100 000 live births observed in Europe in 2017 and more than five times the 2030 SDG target of less than 70 maternal deaths per 100 000 live births.
It exceeds the 211 average for the entire world. At the present rate of decrease, Africa will need to reduce its rates by 86% from 2017, the most recent year for which data were available, to meet this SDG objective.
WHO regional director for Africa Dr Matshidiso Moeti said: “It is crucial that governments make a radical course correction, surmount the challenges, and speed up the pace towards the health goals. These goals aren’t mere milestones, but the very foundations of healthier life and well-being for millions of people.”
The region’s progress toward important health goals, like vaccine coverage, was also slowing down, and all benchmarks had stagnated in the past 10 years, especially maternal mortality.
WHO HEALTH STATISTICS
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