Left: A clinical officer trained by the African Medical and Research Foundation, an African- based NGO, treats a severely dehydrated baby. Right: Médicins Sans Frontières’ work includes conflict zones. Here, a man with cholera receives direction at a clinic near Gomo in North Kivu, DR Congo
African governments are faced with greater demands and an urgent need to meet the dire health needs of those who belong neither to the elite or middle class. Despite registering economic growth, health experts contend that some African governments may not be able to provide adequate healthcare to the most needy citizens by 2020.
Primary healthcare Primary healthcare remains one area of contention as African governments continue to falter in their struggle to deliver a robust system that is accessible and affordable for all. Of the eight UN Millennium Development Goals, three of them, MDGs 4, 5 and 6 are health-focused. However, there are hindrances to these goals being achieved due to the lack of infrastructure and government policies which are yet to be implemented. Dr Ken Simiyu, originally from Kenya, is
a fellow at the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health, Canada, with a special focus on health innovation in developing
“Despite the weak state of primary healthcare, there
are areas which have shown improvement in Africa’s health systems, like malaria prevention programmes.”
countries. In past times, he has written extensively about primary healthcare on the continent. In a 2007 essay entitled, “Healthcare in Africa: Status Projection by 2020”, he estimated “over 50 per cent of the African population do not have access to modern health facilities and more than 60 per cent of people in rural areas have no access to primary healthcare.” Dr Simiyu spoke to New African from
Rwanda and described the current state of primary healthcare in Africa (with the exception of South Africa) as generally weak. “Some countries are better than
others. But in the rural areas the primary healthcare situation is pathetic. Patients have to travel long distances to health centres, some of which do not even have trained personnel or equipment. You
cannot, however, generalise and say the situation is uniform across Africa,” he said, adding that African governments have become heavily reliant on medical aid relief and donor support. He is quick to point out though
that there are areas which have shown marked improvement in Africa’s health systems, including the training of health professionals and malaria prevention programmes. “The training of doctors and nurses
[has improved] and there is more access to mosquito nets as a preventive against catching malaria. Statistics indicate malaria infections are dropping in countries like Kenya and Rwanda due to free distribution of mosquito nets to families with children under five years old. Therefore, policies in that regard are having an effect.”
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