African Perspectives of the global economic and financial crisis, including the impact on health

The global financial and economic crisis is presenting significant economic and social development challenges for African countries. The current economic global slowdown, which began with the collapse of the housing market in the United States, has deepened causing many developed countries to enter into a recession. The impacts on African economies and of the other developing world were initially expected to be less severe, but they have now been estimated to be profound. Growth rates in African countries have plummeted, as the crisis is hitting the key drivers of growth, especially trade flows, capital inflows, natural resource sectors (oil and minerals) and agricultural exports. Household incomes are falling due to job losses and decreased remittances from family members working abroad. There are concerns that budget pressures in donor countries will reduce aid flows. The biggest concern is that the crisis may degenerate into a social development crisis on the continent as the recession deepens (AfDB, 2009). This has major effects on people's enjoyment of their human rights. The crisis is likely to disrupt and in some instances reverse development gains, compromising progress toward the Millennium Development Goals (the MDGs), especially those aiming to reduce poverty, hunger, maternal and child mortality, and ensuring 'decent work for all'. The predicted impact of the crisis on health outcomes is grim. Increasing unemployment and poverty will lead to less food security and quality of nutrition, leading to growing health inequities. Some African governments are cutting back on already insufficient HIV treatment and care programmes because of the crisis. Child malnutrition and infant mortality might increase by 200,000 and 400,000 additional deaths in 2009 (UNICEF, 2009). Women, children, the poor, and minority groups, are expected to suffer disproportionately from the health impacts of the crisis. Yet the right to health is non-negotiable. Clearly, Africa faces a lot of challenges in attaining the health MDGs because of the crisis and there is need for finding ways of mobilizing more money to mitigate the impact and strengthen health systems. The African Ministers of Health in their 2007, 2008, and 2009 Ordinary sessions, pledged to implement the Africa Health Strategy in collaboration with the AU Commission, RECs, regional health organizations, UN Agencies, private sector, development partners and other international and civil society organizations. The Regional Health Strategy roposes strengthening of health systems with the goal of reducing disease burden through improved resources, systems, policies and management and to contribute to equity through a system that reaches the poor, the marginalized and displaced people. It is important that policy interventions prioritise protecting social spending, strengthening of social protection, and integration of health perspective into the stimulus packages. This note/presentation reviews the evidence of the impact of the crisis on the continent, with an emphasis on social development and the health sector. It suggests the strategies to mitigate the impacts and suggests the role that regional organizations and development partners can play to strengthen mitigation. However the crisis presents some policy opportunities at the national, regional and international levels. At national it is putting pressure on African countries to consider pro-poor fiscal stimuli packages; protect human and social development of the most vulnerable; and on the medium term to diversify their economies. Regional level actors can provide fora for policy dialogue and consensus building on mitigating of the crisis on health and education, and a funding facility to mitigate the impact of the financial crisis on health. At the international level, the quality and quantity of aid need to be sustained. Innovative health financing schemes that tackle inefficient use of resources and fragmented and unpredictable health aid flows are required to reinforce equitable health systems and support government capacity,download.