Why Will Africa’s Health Systems Struggle if Another Pandemic Strikes?

Highlights

• Insufficient funds hamper African health systems’ efforts to be pandemic ready

• A lack of trained healthcare staff and outdated medical equipment further aggravates the situation

• Regional collaboration is vital to share knowledge and resources to contain potential outbreaks

Africa’s healthcare systems have a long way to go when it comes to being pandemic ready. The challenges that confronted the continent’s healthcare leaders and governments are still relevant. The key parameters include a shortfall in funding, insufficient infrastructure, along with a perennial lack of healthcare workers. However, it’s noteworthy that regional collaboration has somewhat mitigated the risks and have boosted the resiliency of primary care services across the continent.

The primary challenge is the limited funding available for healthcare, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The funds crunch translates to a dearth of healthcare equipment, essential medicines and professional training for medical workers. This aspect hampers a country’s level of readiness to contain a potential outbreak before it spreads any further.

Insufficient infrastructure with outdated equipment is another issue that limits the effectiveness of health systems. Several healthcare facilities do not have an adequate number of hospital beds, trauma centres, operation theatres and diagnostic equipment. Additionally supply of basic facilities such as power and water are often interrupted during the summer season.

A lack of healthcare workers in many African countries further inhibits measures to deploy trained staff on the frontlines. The major factors are a lack of opportunities, insufficient remuneration and a low doctor to patient ratio resulting in stress for healthcare professionals. Countries such as Nigeria and South Africa face a significant brain-drain with doctors as well as nurses preferring to migrate to countries such as the U.K to improve career-related prospects.

Stakeholders such as governments, multi-lateral groups, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) need to come together to implement policies that encourage private players to tie up with public institutions. Such measures would go a long way in making the healthcare sector attractive for investors.

Here are a few key strategies to ensure Africa is well-prepared to deal with another pandemic:

Disease surveillance and response systems: A strong disease monitoring capability for early detection and quick response is the first step to manage potential threats. This requires a robust laboratory network, easy data collection as well as sharing mechanisms to detect and contain outbreaks.

Healthcare training: Governments must establish facilities to train medical personnel to offer primary care. Scholarships and adequate pay can help recruit plus maintain talent over time. An efficient pandemic response team should comprise pathologists, epidemiologists, and chemists, among other healthcare professionals.

Encouraging research and innovation: Research and innovation is the bedrock on which resilient health systems are built. A tradition of research needs to be established in Africa to develop new modes of treatment, integrate AI-powered diagnostic tools and come up with preventive measures related to nutrition as well as hygiene. Governments need to deepen collaboration with entities such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) to foster collaboration in new trends related to vaccines, a crucial part of pandemic preparedness.

Implementing these strategies will improve African countries’ ability to respond successfully to future pandemics.