African Members of Parliament call for increased investment in healthcare to achieve Universal Health Coverage.
Drake Nyamugabwa
African governments invest comparatively little in the health sector, with dire consequence for their citizens including exorbitant out-of-pocket fees which leave people in poverty.
Members of Parliament who belong to Committees on Health in their respective Parliaments across Africa have convened in Kampala for the 14th Annual Network of African Parliamentary Committees of Health (NEAPACOH) conference to discuss efforts toward realizing Universal Health Coverage.
Health financing according to the legislators is a core function of health systems that can enable progress towards universal health coverage by improving effective service coverage and financial protection.
Today, millions of people do not access services due to the cost. Many others receive poor quality of services even when they pay out-of-pocket.
They concur that carefully designed and implemented health financing policies can help to address these issues including contracting and payment arrangements that they say can incentivize care coordination and improved quality of care; and sufficient and timely disbursement of funds to providers can help to ensure adequate staffing and medicines to treat patients.
While opening the conference on 22nd February 2023 at Speke Resort Munyonyo, The representative of the Rt. Hon. Anita Among Speaker of Parliament, Minister for Health, Dr. Jane Ruth Acen in above picture called upon the MPs to rise up to the challenge of health in Africa, for an Africa that is independent and can show the rest of the world that we can do it. Adding that “We can and we Must" .
“We need to focus on diseases that cause us to end in abject poverty - the #NTDs that are only known on the African continent. We must allocate adequate resources to address them. We must focus on manufacturing our own health commodities as a continent and stop this habit of begging" she said
NRM Member of Parliament Hon. Joel Ssebikaali representing the people of Ntwetwe County, Kyankwanzi district
The Deputy Chairperson of the Uganda Parliamentary Committee of Health Hon. Joel Ssebikaali (MP Ntwetwe County, Kyankwanzi district)in an interview at the sidelines of the conference said that in order to minimise donaor dependance who can not be relied on forever, there is need to enhance domestic resource mobilisation to fund health care systems in Uganda and Africa.
"We need to focus on domestic funding of our health care syatems to minimise donor dependance. The donors can pull out any time" he said
Hon. Joel added that leaders have to create a sustainable healthcare instrastructure that benefits the local people in the commuities in all health programmes while inovling the community people for appropraite delivery and planning.
Bach home in Ntwetwe Sub county, the NRM Member of Paliamnet Hon Joel Ssebikaali donated two Ambulances to Kyankwanzi district to boost community healthy system.
The Executive Director CEHURD Ugada and Director General of Afya Na Haki, Dr. Moses Mulumba said that in order to elevate information and services for adolescents and young people to attain UHC and SDGs, African parliamentarians need to play an oversight role in developing and implementing SRHR policies.
"Africa needs to decolonize SRHR by developing frameworks that define terms on age and cultural appropriateness as used in SRHR to accelerate information and services for adolescents and young people to attain UHC and SDGs" he said
The Executive Director CEHURD Ugada and Director General of Afya Na Haki, Dr. Moses Mulumba
The theme conference is: "Building the capacity of African policymakers for achieving UHC & SDGs: The Role of Parliamentarians"
Universal Health Coverage (UHC) as defined by the World Health Organization, is accessed by all individuals to quality health services without suffering financial hardship.
The conference under the tag #NEAPACOH2023 brings together Members of African Parliaments who chair or are members of health committees to discuss progress on the implementation of health-related commitments signed by countries at the global, regional, & national levels.
The panel discussion at the conference
