Honorable Ministers of Health;
Director General of World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus;
Esteemed members of UN sister agencies and development partners;
Distinguished delegates, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen
A very warm welcome to this side event to launch the WHO Regional Office for Africa’s Framework of Actions on Strengthening Health Systems towards attaining Universal Health Coverage and the SDGs.
I am grateful to the Honorable Ministers of Health of Cabo Verde, Guinea, Zambia and Zimbabwe for accepting to participate as panelists in this side event, and in doing so, demonstrating their firm commitment towards building effective and resilient health systems in our Region.
There is no doubt: progress has been made in improving health outcomes in our Region.
These have largely resulted from programme and disease-specific investments, leading to gains such as the reduction in maternal mortality, a decrease in the number of AIDS-related deaths, and a reduction in malaria incidence.
In order for these gains to be sustained, Member States in our Region will need to approach health systems development in a more holistic, inclusive and coordinated manner.
Our health systems currently face stark challenges in their governance structures; in providing adequate financing for health; and in ensuring sustained quality of care within and across the different layers of the health system.
Gaps in data and information hinder effective planning and forecasting, and limit the efficient use of financial, logistical and human resources.
During this session, we shall bring to your attention the evidence of the impact of ill health on the economies of our continent and our region.
Recent work we did in the Regional Office shows that achieving the health SDGs in 2030 will save the continent at least 47% of likely annual GDP loss, compared to the situation in 2015.
In order to rise to these challenges, WHO Regional Office for Africa developed a Framework of Actions, together with your Directors of Planning in Windhoek, Namibia in December last year, as a guide to making context-specific plans and investments, to assist our Member States to build sustainable health systems for Universal Health Coverage and the SDGs.
I would therefore like to officially open this event and request a brief presentation of the Framework of Actions by the Director of Health Systems and Services in the Regional Office, Dr Delanyo Dovlo.
Thank you all for honouring our invitation and I look forward to lively and fruitful discussions with the Honourable Ministers of Health and participants present.
Thank you for your attention.