ACCRA: PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan yesterday embarked on a one-day working visit to Accra, Ghana, to attend the African Union Extraordinary Summit on Health.
The summit, which opens today, will bring together African Heads of State and Government to discuss measures aimed at strengthening health systems, expanding equitable access to healthcare and accelerating progress towards universal health coverage across the continent.
According to a statement issued by the Directorate of Presidential Communications, the leaders will deliberate on strategies to end AIDS and tuberculosis, reduce preventable maternal and child deaths and improve Africa’s preparedness to respond to current and future public health challenges.
The Extraordinary Summit will also consider a fully costed African Union Roadmap to 2030 and beyond, which seeks to sustain the HIV/AIDS response, strengthen resilient health systems and enhance health security across the continent.
Held under the theme “Advancing Justice, Equity and Universal Health Coverage: Ending AIDS, TB, Improving Maternal Health and Addressing Endemic Non-Communicable and Neglected Tropical Diseases and Conditions in Africa,” the meeting aims to mobilise high-level political leadership, strengthen strategic partnerships and accelerate implementation of the continent’s health priorities under Agenda 2063.
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African leaders are also expected to discuss ways of increasing domestic financing for the health sector amid declining external support, which the African Union says threatens gains made over the past two decades in combating HIV/ AIDS and other diseases.
According to the AU, sustained investments have contributed to a 74 per cent reduction in AIDS-related deaths since 2004.
However, the organisation warns that the progress is increasingly at risk due to declining and uncertain external financing, underscoring the need for stronger African led and African-financed health systems.
In line with the Abuja Declaration, which calls on member states to allocate at least 15 per cent of their national budgets to health, the summit will consider practical measures to expand domestic health financing while advancing implementation of the roadmap to 2030 and beyond.