Africa is on the rise. With various economic indices pointing towards Africa as the next great economic hub, it is time for business to focus on her most critical driver – her people. Healthy people will ultimately be a viable pool for driving the economic changes we are witnessing across Africa, achieving the enormous potentials of a young and vibrant … Read More

By Joy Phumaphi, Executive Secretary, ALMA African countries and their partners have made significant progress to defeat malaria and to advance its broader health and development agenda. Between 2000 and 2015, the number of malaria cases and deaths declined by 42% and 66%, respectively. Underlying this progress were several important enablers, including sustained leadership, resource commitments, community participation and global solidarity. … Read More

By Asha Varghese, Director of Global Health, GE Foundation Global surgery has been a neglected global health priority for decades, so much so that over five billion people globally lack access to surgery. Simple operations, often taken for granted in the developed world, are largely inaccessible or unsafe for people living in low and middle- income countries. Ensuring that safe … Read More

By Saurabh Sinha, Chief, Social Policy, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa On average, a child born in Africa today can expect to live until beyond 2080. Whether this child will have a healthy life will depend not only which country she is born or decides to live in, or the types of decisions made by her, but also by … Read More

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

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

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

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

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