Addis Ababa — The African Development Week continued in Addis Ababa Monday with former Nigerian finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, now chairperson of the board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, urging African governments to invest massively in immunisation programmes saying prevention is cheaper than cure.
Presenting a paper at ninth joint annual meetings of the African Union specialised technical committee and finance, monetary affairs, economic planning and integration and Economic Commission for Africa conference of African ministers of finance, planning and economic development, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said governments need to include immunisation in their annual budgets.
Prioritising immunisation in national budgeting presented great returns in economic development for countries, the former finance minister said.
She said a recent study by the John Hopkins University in the United States shows that for every dollar spent on immunisation, there are returns of US $16 in avoided health costs.
"This is an exceedingly high rate of return and for ministers of finance and planning, I want to tell you this is one of the most efficient ways of spending our health dollars," said Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala.
"If we get our children and our people immunized we avoid so many health costs that would otherwise have to be spent."
Health, economic and finance ministers met Sunday on the sidelines of the Conference of Ministers to discuss how they can make immunization a priority in their respective countries.
Dr. Seth Berkely, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, also made a presentation to the meeting, also urging governments to prioritise immunisation in their budgets saying political will is all that is needed to ensure the unnecessary loss of lives is prevented.
People in remote areas, he said, are the most affected by lack of vaccinations resulting in illnesses in the long run, among other issues and ultimately reducing productivity at local and national levels.
Mr. Berkely said Gavi is ready to go into vaccine co-financing programmes with governments on the continent to reduce sickness, improve learning, increase productivity, among other issues on the continent.
He said the co-financing makes vaccines affordable for countries, adding with the amount that it cost the continent to deal with the Ebola outbreak for example, it is prudent for African countries to invest in immunisation to deal with child mortality rates and related illnesses as it races to achieve the new SDGs.
Meanwhile, a high level ministerial policy dialogue on the theme of the meetings; "Towards an integrated and coherent approach to the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals" was convened with ECA Executive Secretary Carlos Lopes chairing.
Ms. Zaineb Shasuna-Amhed, the Nigerian Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Mr. Maged Abdelaziz, the United Nations Under-Secretary General and Special Advisor on Africa, and Dr. Anthony Mothae Maruping, Commissioner for Economic Affairs of the African Union, were on the panel that led discussions into the how Africa can harmonise Africa's 50-year development plan, Agenda 2063 and Agenda 2030 into national plans.
The Conference of Ministers, which now falls under the ECA's African Development Week, ends Tuesday.
