AFRICA – Redemptoris Missio, a humanitarian aid foundation in Poznan, western Poland, has committed to establish and commercialize top standard healthcare facilities across Africa.
The foundation will commit approximately PLN 1.5 million (EUR 327,000) gained from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to put up these facilities in three African countries; Tanzania, Kenya and Senegal.
Justyna Janiec-Palczewska, the director of Redemptoris Missio, has said the organization will be renovating and equipping the Centre for Malnourished Children in Velingara, Senegal, expand the health centre in Kithatu, Kenya, and build and equip a clinic for mothers and Children in Maganzo, Tanzania.
“We have six months to complete these projects. It’s clearly quite a challenge and we hope that we’ll be able to make it in time,” Janiec-Palczewska said.
Janiec-Palczewska also said that the missionary medical facilities in Africa were often the only places where professional medical assistance could be provided under good conditions to local communities.
For instance, East Africa faces momentous health challenges. There are many preventable deaths from childbirth and malnutrition, as well as infectious diseases.
According to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Sub-Saharan Africa has about 11% of the world’s people, but it carries 24% of the global disease burden in human and financial costs. Almost half the world’s deaths of children under five take place in Africa.
Currently, Africa, as whole is facing threats due to emerging pandemics such as Ebola, Marburg and the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. These have put enormous strain on healthcare facilities across the continent threatening lives and livelihoods.
This challenge is significant but not insurmountable. There is a tremendous opportunity to leverage the private sector in ways that improve access and increase the financing and quality of healthcare goods and services throughout Africa.
In a region where public resources are limited, the private sector is already a significant player. Around 60% of healthcare financing in Africa comes from private sources, and about 50% of total health expenditure goes to private providers.
Having established itself as an East African business hub and a key pharmaceutical market, Kenya is already a host to many multinationals, mostly through local representative offices or distributors, according to a report by Fitch Solutions.
In 2017, total healthcare spending accounted for around 4.8% of the country’s GDP, with the figure gradually falling in recent years from over 5.7% in as recently as 2014.
Tanzania exemplifies the developing world’s struggle to achieve ‘middle-income’ country status while confronting widespread poverty and substantial health challenges-such as persistently high child and maternal mortality, human immunodeficiency virus/ acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), tuberculosis (TB), and malaria, according to latest research by Export.
Tanzania has made a number of important public health achievements in recent years, including a decline in childhood deaths. Between 2003 and Source, HIV prevalence fell from 7.0 to 5.1%, while the number of patients receiving life-saving HIV treatment has nearly tripled over the last five years.
According to figures from Unicef, the health sector was allocated Tanzanian Shillings (TSh) 2.22 trillion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2017/2018. This represents a 34% nominal increase on FY 2016/2017 or a 28% increase once adjusting for inflation. The health budget accounts for 7% of the national budget and 1.8% of gross domestic product (GDP).
Therefore, Sub-Saharan Africa’s improving economic performance means that the demand among all sectors of society for healthcare is poised to increase still further, says the IFC.
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