The Africa Medical Research Foundation (AMREF) has called for concerted efforts from Africa’s private and public sectors to tackle health challenges the continent faces.
Amref Health Africa Director-General Teguest Guerma said although healthcare remains a growing concern on the continent, respective governments have not prioritised the sector.
Dr. Guerma said many African governments were unable to meet basic standards of care for their citizens because of system-wide barriers that can be unlocked through public private partnerships.
“We acknowledge (for example) the Government of Kenya’s commitment to healthcare. But we also recognise that it does not have enough resources to meet the country’s health needs and therefore the need to strengthen public-private partnerships. Amref Health Africa is seeking to successfully harness the financial and innovative resourcefulness that this partnership can offer to resolve these health challenges,” she said.
Dr. Guerma said the partnership had potential to release money that can be channeled into creating innovative ideas to drive developments in healthcare, pharmaceuticals, health/medical insurance and technology transfer, consequently increasing Africa’s capacity to manage development of her health care.
She was speaking at a roundtable meeting in Nairobi, ahead of the Amref Health Africa International conference that will be held in Kenya on November 24 to 26.
Discussions during the conference will focus on strategies that will deepen access to healthcare and address the growing statistics in HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis and other communicable infections.
