Date Published:
20 November 2006 |
WHO - The African Regional Health Report
Africa is developing solutions for fighting disease and improving health,
new WHO report finds
The signs are everywhere,
across the continent: Africa is finding African approaches to solving its health
problems.
In Uganda, 50% of all HIV/AIDS patients have been reached with life-saving
antiretroviral medicine through an innovative programme that trains nurses
to do some of the work traditionally done by doctors and community health workers
to take on some of the work of nurses.
In Mali, community cost-sharing schemes have provided 35 of the country's
57 community health centres with staff trained to deliver babies and perform
emergency caesarian sections, making skilled obstetric care available to thousands
of women who could not previously afford it.
In Rwanda, a police-led road safety campaign, which has included introduction
of fines for failure to wear seatbelts or helmets, resulted in a drop of nearly
one quarter in the number of deaths from road traffic injuries in a single
year.
And in South Africa, a health-care train routinely transports young doctors
and final-year medical students to isolated farming areas that would otherwise
have no access to basic medical services. To date the train has provided health
care to half a million people and health screening and education to an additional
800 000.
These steps forward and others chronicled in The African Regional Health Report:
The Health of the People -- the first report to focus on the health of the
738 million people living in the African Region of the World Health Organization
-- offer hope that over time the Region can address the massive health challenges
it faces, given sufficient international support.
" Africa confronts the world's most dramatic public health crisis,
but this report shows there are public health solutions that work in the
African
setting. These can be extended to all Africans in need, if governments build
on lessons learnt from successful interventions while seeking better coordination
with the efforts of international partners", said Alpha Oumar Konaré,
Chairman of the Commission of the African Union.
The Report provides a comprehensive analysis of key public health issues and
progress made on them in the Africa Region.
- HIV/AIDS continues to devastate the WHO Africa Region, which has 11% of
the world's population but 60% of the people living with HIV. Although HIV/AIDS
remains the leading cause of death for adults, more and more people are receiving
life-saving treatment. The number of HIV-positive people on antiretroviral
medicines increased eight-fold, to 810 000 in December 2005 from 100 000
in
December 2003.
- More than 90% of the estimated 300–500 million malaria cases that
occur worldwide every year are in Africans, mainly in children under five
years
of age, but most countries are moving towards better treatment policies.
Of the
42 malaria-endemic countries in the African Region, 33 have adopted artemisinin-based
combination therapy--the most effective antimalarial medicines available
today--as first-line treatment.
- River blindness has been eliminated as a public health problem, and guinea
worm control efforts have resulted in a 97% reduction in cases since 1986.
Leprosy is close to elimination--defined as less than one case per 10 000
people in the Region.
- Most countries are making good progress on preventable childhood illness.
Polio is close to eradication, and 37 countries are reaching 60% or more
of their
children with measles immunization. Overall measles deaths have declined
by more than 50% since 1999. In 2005 alone 75 million children received
measles vaccines.
While drawing the world's attention to recent successes, the Report offers
a candid appraisal of major hurdles, such as the high rate of maternal and
newborn mortality overall in the Region. Of the 20 countries with the highest
maternal mortality ratios worldwide, 19 are in Africa; and the Region has
the highest neonatal death rate in the world. Then there is the strain
on African
health systems imposed by the high burden of life-threatening communicable
diseases coupled with increasing rates of noncommunicable diseases. Basic
sanitation needs remain unmet for many: only 58% of people living in sub-Saharan
Africa
have access to safe water supplies. Noncommunicable diseases, such as hypertension,
heart disease and diabetes are on the rise; and injuries remain among the
top causes of death in the Region.
" We know what the challenges are, and we know how to address them--but
we also recognize that Africa's fragile health systems represent an enormous
barrier to wider application of the solutions highlighted in this report. If
we are to continue moving forward, African governments and their partners must
make a major commitment and invest more funds to strengthen health systems," said
Dr Luis Gomes Sambo, Regional Director of the WHO Regional Office for Africa.
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