Mangoa Mosota
22 August 2007
Nairobi — The provision of primary health care holds the key in efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the UN says.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the poor must be reached to attain better health and reduce poverty.
"We must address poor health with appropriate, high-quality care, overcome major barriers, such as weak health systems and inadequate numbers of health care staff," Dr Margaret Chan, WHO director-general, was quoted on the agency's website.
WHO estimates that four million health workers are urgently needed to provide care in more than a quarter of the world's countries.
Chan said the challenge of financing health care for the poor ought to be dealt with now.
She said Governments are not reaching a large number of people with sustainable, equitable, and comprehensive care on an adequate scale.
A UN report released last month showed that many of the developing countries have a bleak prognosis in meeting the MDGs. Kenya was cited as one of the countries with inadequate health care for children.
Initiatives achieved little in strengthening health care provision
The report showed that due to the increasing paucity of immunisation against curable diseases, child mortality has climbed steadily from 90 per 1,000 in 1990 to 115 per 1,000 in 2003.
Similarly, infant mortality shows a similar trajectory during this same period, increasing from 60 to 77 per 1,000 in 2003.
Chan said in the past one decade, there has been enormous growth in the number of partnerships and initiatives implementing programmes in countries.
She, however, said these initiatives have achieved little in strengthening health care provision.
She said the MDGs place health firmly at the centre of the development agenda.
The rise of chronic diseases has created an additional burden for health systems.
Moreover, the costs of caring for these diseases can be catastrophic for impoverished households, moving them deeper into poverty.
She said majority of the world's 1.3 billion poor still do not have access to essential interventions because of weaknesses in the financing of health care.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 The East African Standard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
