Speech

ECSA Regional Health Ministers' Conference

Remarks by Ms. Cheryl Anderson, Regional Director, USAID/East Africa, transmitted to the conference by video

Mahe, Seychelles  | Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Guest of Honor;
Hon. Marie-Pierre Lloyd, Minister of Health of the Seychelles;
Hon. Prof. David Mwakyusa, Minister of Health of Tanzania and Chairperson of the ECSA Conference of Health Ministers;
Honorable Ministers present;
Dr. Steven Shongwe, Executive Secretary of the ECSA Health Community;
Dr. Luis Sambo, WHO Regional Director for Africa;
Representative of UNICEF;
Representative of COMSEC;
Permanent Secretaries, Directors of Medical Services, Representatives of Collaborating Partners,
Delegates, Distinguished guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen:

It’s a real honor to address this forum, and I appreciate your flexibility in allowing me to make my remarks from here in Nairobi. I’d like to thank the Ministry of Health of the Seychelles and the ECSA Health Community Secretariat for convening this important meeting, and the people of the Seychelles for hosting it.

I’m very happy that this year’s conference is about “Improving the Performance of Health Systems: from Policy to Action.” As we know, there’s a gap between knowledge and action that’s still much too big. Many of the countries in the region are still challenged with the high burden of communicable diseases, as well as the increasing incidence of non-communicable diseases.  It’s also very important to have this forum for member states to review their progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals; to share experiences on effective health care delivery, and of course to review the implementation of the previous resolutions of the Health Ministers.    We know that successful policies and strategies already exist to improve the health of vulnerable populations. Unfortunately -- these approaches haven’t yet been widely adopted by most countries in Africa. Despite many academic discussions, there remains a tremendous gap between knowledge and action. We know enough to act now.

Cost-effective preventive and clinical interventions are available and now is the time to scale up.  USAID recognizes that without strong health systems we can’t have sustainable improvements in health outcomes. Our health systems strengthening program provides continued support to the nations of East, Central and Southern Africa, ensuring that health systems in the region are effective, efficient, and equitable.

The approaches are many, including:  streamlining management, increasing cost-effectiveness, better allocation of resources and in some cases decentralized health systems. I’d like to take this opportunity to highlight some of the activities that the U.S. Government, through USAID, is funding in partnership with ECSA and with your Ministries of Health:

• In an effort to reduce maternal mortality, we’ve supported ECSA to complete assessments on the status of active management of the third stage of labor for Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda, that will provide the needed data to scale up activities region-wide.
• We know that child spacing reduces the risk of maternal mortality and morbidity. We’re helping to revive family planning services in the region by supporting ECSA in developing policies to increase access to family planning services. ECSA has also worked with the media to increase accurate information about family planning methods. In the coming year we’ll be working with ECSA on increasing access to a full range of family planning services with a focus on long-term methods.
• Two years ago -- at the regional Ministers meeting in Mombasa -- ECSA, working closely with our partners, presented policy documents that linked both alcohol abuse and violence against women to HIV outcomes. Based on these findings, you resolved that alcohol and violence-related issues be integrated into national HIV and AIDS strategies and that appropriate alcohol and anti-violence policies, guidelines and programs be put in place to prevent and mitigate the consequence of HIV.
• Our continued support to training and the analysis of National Health Accounts enables participating countries to develop management systems to lower health costs as well as create a road map for countries to achieve their MDG targets efficiently.
• Finally, USAID -- in partnership with ECSA -- is focusing on increasing the diagnosis and treatment of TB.

So those are some highlights of our commitment to working collaboratively with ECSA Health Community Secretariat and with other regional African partners to support key efforts in the areas of:  Maternal and Child Health, Infectious Diseases, Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS that contribute towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

While there are huge challenges facing us in the field there are also exciting opportunities that we can harness. This takes vision, commitment, strength and follow-up and I have no doubt, that in this room today, we have all the right players and the right team to make significant progress on achieving the MDGs. I congratulate the ECSA member states for your continued commitment - both personal and institutional - in improving the health of the people of the ECSA region.   And --

I wish you very the best in your deliberations.