First lady Remi Tinubu has called on Africa to develop innovative financing strategies tailored to strengthen its healthcare system.
Gatekeepers News reports that this was revealed in a statement on Friday by Busola Kukoyi, the senior special assistant on media to the first lady.
Remi gave the remark at a high-level meeting on domestic health financing, organised by President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, during the 38th African Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.
The first lady said that without guaranteed access to essential health delivery for Africans, the continent’s efforts to achieve economic growth will remain unsuccessful.
She said, “Africa cannot continue to rely solely on donor funding and foreign aid, which, although helpful, are often unpredictable and unsustainable.”
“Instead, we must develop innovative financing strategies tailored to our unique challenges and circumstances.”
“Given the increasing funding gap for health on the continent, l urge us all to come together and commit to advocating for increased national health budgets.”
Remi added that with the recent policy changes in the US, Africa needs to consider to local and sustainable solutions to meet its funding gap.
The first lady stressed the need for an efficient mobilisation and utilisation of resources for both short, medium, and long-term impact, adding that achieving a wealthy continent is dependent on the health of the people.
She said, “In line with the Abuja Declaration, our governments should allocate at least 15% of their budgetary allocations to health.”
“We must also support innovative financing mechanisms and explore sustainable models, such as expanding health insurance coverage, health endowment funds, and investments from the African diaspora.”
“Accountability and transparency must be ensured, as funds allocated to health must be used efficiently and effectively.”
