The promise of making healthcare accessible to all without being pushed into debt is still far from being realised in Africa, writes Tian Johnson of African Alliance for Health-e News, to mark Universal Health Coverage Day (12 December).
Even as the continent’s population races towards 2.5bn people by mid-century, access to basic services is crawling forward at a pace that doesn’t match the need.
The WHO estimates that Africa is only just approaching the halfway mark to achieving universal health coverage.
Millions still can’t get the care or medicines on which they rely.
And that’s the heart of the crisis: even when people finally reach a clinic, they’re often sent home with a list of medicines they must buy themselves and usually can’t afford.
Across the continent, families are being tipped into poverty by everyday illnesses because health systems are so thinly funded that the cost is shifted on to ordinary people. ….more
