Press Statement - AU Heads must Act to end African Health Disaster

none 30 Jan 2007 – 9:01 (modified on 13 Apr 2007 – 12:04)

by mlepeska

Issued 28 January 2007 - Africa’s Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Professor Wangari Maathai urge African Union Heads of State Summit to Act Speedily to end Africa's Public Health Disaster

– Tutu Underlines that unless AU member states meet pledge to allocate 15% of national budgets to health care, Africa could loose 120 million lives by 2015 Millennium Development Goals deadline.

- Maathai stresses the need for states and business to develop and implement environmental health policies to protect citizens and continent.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Laureate and Honorary Chair of the Africa Public Health Rights Alliance "15% Now!" Campaign has written to the African Union Heads of State Summit [holding in Addis Ababa from 29 to 30th January 2007] urging them to ensure that they meet the 2001 African Union Abuja pledge to allocate 15% of national budgets to healthcare.** See full letter to African Union at end of press statement

In the letter sent to the AU Summit, Archbishop Tutu stated that "sustainable financing for public health in Africa is arguably the most important challenge facing our continent today". He underlined that with "an estimated 8 million Africans dying annually from preventable, treatable and manageable diseases and health conditions..." this means "...an estimated 40 million Africans have died over the past 5 years from health related conditions as a result of the 2001 Abuja commitment not being met".

He further stated that this figure of 40 million "surpasses the total deaths from all modern African and global conflicts including the two world wars and, is roughly the equivalent of the combined population of Africa’s ten least populous countries"

"Nothing can be more important to African governments than the lives of African citizens" he added, emphasising that - "at the almost unbelievable annual death rates, Africa could loose an estimated 120 million lives between 2000 and 2015 which is when the three health based Millennium Development Goals of Reducing Child Mortality, Improving Maternal Health, and reducing HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases should have been achieved"

Speaking earlier at the "15% Now!" Campaign event at the just concluded World Social Forum in Nairobi fellow Laureate Professor Maathai supported the call for the 15% pledge to be met and further called on African governments to ensure that environmental health is factored into overall health budgeting.

She also stressed that "it is of utmost importance that states, as well as business and citizens give priority to environmental health."

Giving the example of malaria which kills over a million Africans annually, she decried the production of poor quality plastic bags and containers which are not biodegradable and are not good enough to use more than once. "these low quality plastic bags and containers litter our environment in their millions creating habitats for mosquitoes to breed and spread malaria."

"Our governments must stop the production of these environmentally unfriendly plastics, and citizens should use alternative such as baskets for shopping. Only when the demand falls will the companies that make these bags produce stronger and degradable ones which do not facilitate disease and death"

In a related development, Rotimi Sankore Coordinator of the "15% Now" Campaign congratulated the government of Botswana on being the first African Union member state to surpass the 2001 AU 15% pledge.

Botswana’s Minister of Health Hon. Professor Sheila Tlou D. Tlou announced at a special HIV and AIDS conference of the Southern Africa Development Community - Parliamentary Forum [in Gaborone, Botswana on the 24th of January] that Botswana will be allocating 21% of its national budget to healthcare.

Speaking at the conference attended by SADC Ministers and Directors of Health, members of Parliament, scientists and civil society, Rotimi Sankore stated "The Africa Public Health Rights Alliance "15% Now!" campaign urges other SADC countries, and African Union member states to follow the inspiring example of Botswana to halt the slide towards possible extinction of Africans".

He also called on those African countries whose health spending is constrained by expenditure ceilings imposed by the IMF and other institutions to strongly consider breaking the ceilings stating that "the first obligation of governments is to save lives, and not to meet insensitive and immoral loan conditionalities by IMF officials that are in effect a death sentence to millions that will be denied access to healthcare".

ENDS

To read Archbishop Tutu's letter click here

For further information please contact the following:

Contacts-

Dapo Awosokanre / Centre for Research Education & Development of Rights in Africa (CREDO Africa): In Addis Ababa +251912129331, or +44 207 424 5744, media @ credonet.org

Miano Munene / Kenya Health Rights Advocacy Network (KHRAN): Tel: +254 20 3874998 Email: mmiano @ khrc.or.ke

Sisonke Msimang / Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA): Tel. +27 11 403 3414, sisonkem @ osiafrica.org

Eric Friedman /Physicians for Human Rights: +1-202-728-5335 ext. 303 ,efriedman @ phrusa.org

Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi / Women Advocates & Research Documentation Centre (WARDC): +234 8055951858 womenadvocate @ yahoo.com =======================================

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