The Covid-19 outbreak continues to accelerate in Africa with over 900,000 cases, according to the Africa Centres for Diseases Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
At least 18,000 people have died of the virus across the continent’s 54 countries.
As many as 540,000 have so far recovered. Sadly, the health crisis has exposed gaps in health services in the continent - a scenario that requires urgent attention.
The Covid-19 outbreak continues to accelerate in Africa with over 900,000 cases, according to the Africa Centres for Diseases Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
At least 18,000 people have died of the virus across the continent’s 54 countries. As many as 540,000 have so far recovered. Sadly, the health crisis has exposed gaps in health services in the continent - a scenario that requires urgent attention.
This reminds us of the Abuja Declaration. In 2001, African leaders signed the Declaration, voluntarily pledging to allocate a minimum of 15 per cent of each country’s national budget to health.
However, 19 years later, there have only been modest increases in the budgets of a few African countries. According to the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) State of Health Financing in the African Region, only three countries had attained the per centage pledged: Botswana (17 per cent), Rwanda (20 per cent) and Zambia (16 per cent).
This is appalling. The lack of investment is unfortunate considering that Africa carries 25 per cent of the global disease burden based on the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) research.
Out-of pocket expenditure
There can never be a reason why the average amount allocated to the health sector by African countries still stands at 9.8 per cent. No good reason why only 10 African countries provide free and universal healthcare (according to a report by Mo Ibrahim foundation).
No good explanation why out-of-pocket expenditure is still higher than 40 per cent of the total health expenditure in 20 of the 45 countries, according to subsequent studies by World Health Organisation.
Countries must learn to honour their own constitutions and the international human rights treaties they have ratified and guarantee the right to good health to their citizens. The right to health includes ensuring availability, acceptability and quality of health of health care goods, facilities and services.
Health capital
Granted, many of African countries have limited capacity for raising public revenue mainly because the informal nature of their economies makes collection of tax and contributions difficult.
This limits their opportunities for investing in health. But this does not close out other ways of raising health capital. If governments have prioritised infrastructure bonds which now dot Euro-bond markets in the billions of dollars, what stops them from issuing medical or healthcare bonds?
As a way to complement other health-sector financing efforts, these special bonds can indeed help finance a wide array of areas including hospitals, medicines, medical devices, clinical trials, outsourcing, health insurance, and medical equipment.
Democratise healthcare
Their sole purpose could be to democratise healthcare and increase affordability.
If structured well, these bonds could play a key role in strengthening health financing systems in the region yet ensure that investors get value for money for their investment in health.
More importantly, they can aid efforts to move Africa towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goals. Perhaps, the Covid-19 pandemic may just be the wake-up call that the region needs to adequately start investing in their healthcare systems.
Africa has a unique opportunity to leverage medical innovations and invest in new healthcare delivery models to close the healthcare gap in the continent. Healthcare bonds is one of the solutions out of this problem.
Mwanyasi is managing director, Canaan Capital Ltd
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