By historic and global standards, the advances made in health in sub-Saharan Africa since 1980 have been nothing short of staggering. People are living much longer and access to vaccinations has massively reduced death rates from infectious diseases. Yet life expectancy and particularly healthy life expectancy still lags far behind that of the rest of the world, so there is … Read More
Business and Health in Africa: The Need for Private Sector Involvement
Public-private partnerships will make the difference in Africa’s healthcare By Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, Co-Chairman, GBCHealth Health has consistently been a major challenge for many African nations where child and maternal mortality rates remain high (two times higher than the global average) and life expectancy remains low, specifically 13 years below the global average. Everyone should have access to good healthcare, no … Read More
Financing Africa’s Healthcare
By Vera Songwe, Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Africa recorded average real annual GDP growth of five to six percent between 2000 and 2010 before slowing down to about three percent a year between 2010 and 2015. Current growth performance is expected to decline slightly from 3.4 percent in 2017 to 3.2 percent in 2018. Growth will be … Read More
Philanthropy and Health in Africa
By Aliko Dangote, Chairman, Aliko Dangote Foundation The impact of adequate healthcare on a strong African economy has long been a topic for debate, and an added dimension is the role the organized private sector can play to complement government efforts in providing better healthcare for all citizens across Africa. A recent publication of the World Health Organization titled ‘The … Read More
Insights: Innovating the Way Forward to Achieve Universal Health Coverage
By Daniel Mora-Brito Universal health coverage (UHC) is based on the principle that individuals and communities have the right to access comprehensive and good quality health services without experiencing financial hardship. Given the rights-based approach that lies at the core of this concept, UHC has become pivotal to achieving the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda. It calls for partnerships … Read More
Events: Partnerships to Support the Demographic Dividend: A High-Level Forum in Abidjan
In corporate forums on cross-sector collaboration, companies often express frustrations about not being able to have open dialogues with government representatives, earlier in the planning process, to share their knowledge and explore together how best to build programs that strategically allocate resources for maximum impact. Governments too are both interested and skeptical about how and when to best partner and … Read More
Innovations in Global Health: Breaking the Silence of Viral Hepatitis Through Business Actions
Henry E. Chang, President, Actevis Consulting Group Globally, an estimated 292 million people have chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and 71 million people have chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Viral hepatitis infections are often dubbed the “silent killers” as a majority of people – 91% with HBV and 80% with HCV – are not aware that they harbour … Read More
News: The Rise of Diabetes and the Urgent Need for Action
November 14th marked World Diabetes Day, a day created by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in response to the alarming health threats posed by rapidly increasing rates of diabetes globally. Diabetes can be fatal and can lead to blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower limb amputation. From 1980 to 2014, the number … Read More
Insights: New Study Finds that Indirect Impacts of Conflict on Health Cost More Lives than Fighting
By Alyssa Govindan New estimates from the recently published study in The Lancet on armed conflict and child mortality in Africa revealed that conflicts in Africa have resulted in the deaths of as many as 5 million children under the age of 5 over the last 20 years, with over 3 million of them infants aged one year or younger–a … Read More
News: UN High Level Dialogue – Africa’s Health & Finance: Pathways to Economic Growth & Prosperity
A call for businesses to step up in health and take bold action “Health is everything, including wealth,” was a rallying statement from Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of the Republic of Nigeria, at the recent high level dialogue hosted by GBCHealth, the Aliko Dangote Foundation (ADF) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). The event, which took … Read More