For Immediate Release
1 April 2007 by CREDO

Conference of African Finance, Planning and Economic Development: Ministers Must Revaluate Priorities

The Africa Public Health Rights Alliance and its “15% Now” Campaign has called on the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development meeting in Addis Ababa from 2nd - 3rd April to place at the top of its Agenda - financing the resolution of Africa’s Public Health catastrophe.
 
Commenting on the agenda and reports for the Conference holding at the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the Coordinator of APHRA “15% Now!” Campaign Rotimi Sankore stated:
 
“It is disappointing that in a conference dedicated to meeting the MDG’s, not a single agenda session is specifically dedicated to details of financing the resolution of Africa’s Public Health Catastrophe. Even worse, neither the detailed 2007 Conference Annual Report, nor the 2006 Overview of Economic and Social Developments in Africa dedicate a single chapter or section to Public Health. It is embarrassing that we even have to look within the sections to find the references to HIV.
 
He further emphasized that: ”Human beings are the major resource for economic and social development. On a continent where over 8 million citizens die annually from preventable, treatable or manageable health conditions, it will be impossible for the Ministerial conference to come up with any realistic strategies to meet the MDG's without introducing and placing at the top of their agenda, the financing of Public Health Strategies to tackle major killers like Maternal Mortality, Child Mortality, HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria amongst others”.
 
He therefore called on the Ministers: “to In the name of Africa, follow the example of countries like Botswana that has announced allocation of over 20% of its budget to health and dedicate the conference to working out urgent mechanisms to implement within a 2 to 3 year frame work the Abuja Commitment of Heads of State to allocate 15% or more of national budgets to Health.

Even if it means reducing the defence budgets that routinely soak up to 20% to 35% of annual budgets it has to be done. Africa is short of about a million health workers and the only armies we need right now are armies of doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals ”


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