Universal health coverage eludes Africa

LIMITED access to quality and affordable medicines and vaccines has reduced Africa’s possibility to attain Universal Health Coverage, says Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya.

The minister also revealed that Zambia has developed a multisectoral plan to combat antimicrobial resistance because some diseases have developed resistance to common antimicrobial drugs.

Dr Chilufya said antimicrobial resistance is an emerging public health threat, that calls for concerted efforts to curb.

Dr Chilufya said limited access to quality and affordable medicines and vaccines impeded successful realization of the Sustainable Development Goals on the continent.

Dr Chilufya said, however, that as a continent, Africa remained focused on capacity building towards proper implementation of the intellectual property laws to help countries like Zambia use their laws in relation to medicines and vaccines.

Addressing the World Health Organisation (WHO) World Assembly in Geneva Switzerland yesterday, Dr Chilufya said governments had lost huge amounts of resources in the procurement of less effective, substandard and counterfeit medical products which has resulted in loss of lives.

“Even so, the regulatory systems in most African countries still require strengthening and the risk posed by substandard and falsified medical products is very real in the Africa Region, which is currently leading in reporting to the WHO rapid alert system.