Action for Global Health (AfGH) in partnership with the Network of West African NGO Platforms, (REPAOC) convened a conference in Dakar, Senegal, 17-19th February 2014, which brought together civil society actors from 23 countries and five continents. The main purpose of the workshop was to gain clarity and consensus on what Universal Health Coverage (UHC) incorporates, building upon Civil Society Organisation’s (CSO) country experiences from a grassroots level; develop a common understanding of the strengths of the UHC concept and the pitfalls of its implementation; define a clear position on how UHC should be framed to achieve the highest attainable standard of health for all; and outline a course of action for CSO advocacy on the right to health. The meeting concluded with a declaration – Ensuring UHC is fit for contributing to the right to health – which captured the main discussion points and reflections of the CSOs present.
Governance and participation in health
The Uganda National NGO Forum has launched the first CSO-NDP monitoring report that captures citizen voices on Government’s National Development Plan (NDP) and public service delivery. The monitoring strategy for the NDP addressed the demand side challenge of limited Monitoring and Evaluation activities. The report ensured well documentation of citizens’ views which were later shared with stakeholders at different levels of Government. The monitoring survey was conducted in 51 districts and reached 20,000 households in the districts covered. Data was collected from seven sectors through review of government documents and questionnaires administered at four different levels; households, community, sub county and district levels. The report covers findings from seven selected NDP sectors; agriculture; markets and cooperatives; transport; labour and employment; health; water and sanitation; and justice, law and order. With regard to health, most households meet their healthcare costs despite the free primary healthcare policy. Nearly seven out of ten households do not receive their full drug prescription. Sanitary conditions are far from the minimum norms and standards in most households. No more than three in 10 homesteads have a given sanitary facility.
It is widely believed that the recent overhaul of WHO’s publication policy is a response to recent pressures from some developed countries that were unhappy with some of its publications on the subject of IP and public health. There are serious concerns that the publications policy presented in the Secretariats Reports will result in 'self censorship' by WHO and its staff and will hamper timely advice and support by WHO HQ and regional offices to member states over important issues such as application of intellectual property rights and the use of TRIPS flexibilities, other trade and health matters, reproductive health care and other issues.
African Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have accused heads of governments in the continent of ‘tactfully shutting’ them out of the fight against the HIV and AIDS pandemic. The CSOs made the accusation in Abuja where they attended a three-day consultative meeting to review the 2001 Abuja Declaration and Framework of Action on HIV and AIDS, Tuberculosis and other related infectious diseases. In a statement they said that ‘without a massive and sustained effort to meaningfully involve CSOs, the global difficulties in reaching three million people with treatment will also be encountered in extending Universal Access to treatment.
The first African workshop on governance, transparency and accountability processes in access to medicine attracted delegates from 30 civil society organisations in Uganda, Kenya, Zambia and Ghana. The participants benefited from an eight-day training held at Windsor Hotel Entebbe from 17-24 February 2008, ahead of the launch of Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA) project in London in May. The MeTA project is a global initiative by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) aiming to use a multi-stakeholder approach towards increasing transparency around the regulation, selection, procurement, sale, distribution and use of medicines in developing countries, thereby strengthening governance, encouraging responsible business practices and ultimately improving access to medicines, especially for the poor. The MeTA project is being piloted in Ghana and discussions are going on for it to be launched in Uganda as well. Funded by DFID, the workshop was hosted by HEPS-Uganda, working in partnership with Health Research for Action (www.herabelgium.com) and Healthlink Worldwide (www.healthlink.org.uk).
President of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CONGO) Renate Bloem said that without the active engagement of civil society organizations (CSOs) the chances of African countries to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is minimal. Addressing the African Civil Society Forum 2007 held at the United Nations Conference Centre under the theme "Democratizing Governance at Regional and Global Level to meet the Millennium Development Goals" yesterday, she said that civil societies need to give their unconditional support to sustainable development with a view to exerting maximum effort to achieve MDGs by 2015.
Between 26 April and 5 May 2011, 1,000 people were surveyed in Mozambique by Transparency International. The data were weighted by age, gender and region to represent the population of 5,852,280 Mozambicans. The study found that 68% of people reported having paid a bribe in the past year. Fifty-six percent of respondents believed that corruption had got worse, with the remainder evenly divided in their perceptions of corruption having improved or remained the same. More than a third of those using health services or education reported that they had to pay a bribe in the 12 months before the survey was conducted. Of these about 60% had to pay a bribe to ‘speed things up’, 20% had to pay a bribe to avoid problems with authorities, and the remainder had to pay to receive a service to which they were already entitled. Thirty-seven percent paid a bribie less than US$30, while 42% paid a bribe between $30-99. The minimum annual wage ranges from $54 for farm workers to $173 for financial sector employees.
Social Movements and Human Rights Organisations marched from the Library Gardens to the Constitutional Court in Braamfontein. Formed in 2002, the Social Movements Indaba (SMI) and its affiliates have been at the center of struggle for reclaiming human rights as entrenched in the constitution of the country. The SMI and other organisations affiliated took part in a nation-wide protest in support of the demands for housing, land, water, electricity, HIV treatment and health care, jobs and a positive contribution to the human rights of people suffering in neighbouring countries and around the world.
Tanzania initiated the Local Government Reform Programme in 1996. The objective of the reform is decentralisation by devolution, and to strengthen local authorities' ability to deliver quality and accessible services in cooperation with local communities, civil society organisations, the private sector, and other development actors. This report describes various forms of coordination and cooperation in four districts, using maternal health as an entry point and example. Four districts with relatively low maternal mortality rates were selected: Ileje, Misungwi, Serengeti, and Moshi rural. The objective of the study is to identify if, and in what ways, these districts perform better than others when it comes to cooperation on maternal health, and to identify best practices and disseminate the practices to other districts.
Although decentralisation is often heralded as a means to promote democracy and poverty reduction, there is little reliable evidence to prove these claims. In fact, ruling parties and ethnic elites in Africa have used decentralisation to further strengthen their own power and influence at a local level. New research argues that on its own, decentralization will not reduce poverty. Just as important are an ideological commitment to the poor and democratic accountability. Research from the Institute of Development Studies looks at the politics of local-central relations in a selected number of African states which have adopted decentralisation.