Health: Africa admits guilt | L’Economiste
African countries made a real commitment during the Marrakech conference on the reduction of health risks, held between November 16 and November 18.
Participants in the conference have put in place an action plan contained in a joint declaration published after the end of the event, and declared to be “concerned about the scarcity of resources, poor infrastructure, and low health literacy rates in the Global South, on the one hand, and the stigma, barriers, and reluctance to cooperating richer countries, especially at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, on the other hand ”. A hostile environment to which conference participants say they have responded “by sharing and exchanging interventions that can serve as the foundations for a new framework based on multi-sector collaboration ”. The initiative aims to conduct scientific research leading to the development of policy and regulatory guidelines, which are based on evidence capable of “contributing to the prevention and reduction of health risks and ensuring the safety and the protection of health for all citizens, while providing them with equitable access to quality health care in Africa”.
Thus, to reduce health risks in the continent, the participants committed to improving the daily living conditions of all citizens. This will involve “improving the environment in which individuals are born, grow, live and age, thanks in particular to an in-depth transformation of health systems, ethical risk reduction strategies, and to innovations in the reduction of known health risks”. It will therefore be necessary, according to the participants, to develop health care policies in Africa that are centered on a universal medical coverage for patients-citizens and respect equitable access to quality health care as a basic human right. Social protection mechanisms and guaranteeing access to quality and affordable essential health services, including pharmaceutical drugs and traditional and natural medicines, are therefore essential.
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