Summit to depict future of healthcare in Africa

Scenarios depicting the future of African healthcare will be launched at the Healthcare in Africa summit, organised by Economist Conferences next month. The summit take place at the Westin Hotel on 6-7 March 2012.

The summit, entitled 'Healthcare in Africa: Future approaches to funding, partnerships and access', will bring together key players in African healthcare, including health ministers and policymakers from across the continent, to share and debate their ideas, plans and initiatives.

The research from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), commissioned by the pharmaceutical company Janssen, will focus on five possible future scenarios for African healthcare systems over the next decade. 34 leading healthcare experts, representing the entire chain of stakeholders across the sector, helped the EIU's expert analysts identify the key trends shaping African healthcare systems and these were then used to develop scenarios that depict the possible health landscape on the continent in 2022.

The thought-provoking scenarios will explore the potential outcomes and consequences of decisions being taken by governments, healthcare providers, donor organisations and investors today.

The research and scenarios are expected to be welcomed by experts and stakeholders who remain keenly aware that sub-Saharan Africa constitutes 11% of the world's population, but accounts for 24% of the global disease burden.

The future of African healthcare

"Most players in the healthcare sector are used to arguing their own corners," observes Delia Meth-Cohn, the EIU's editorial director for Continental Europe, the Middle East and Africa and chair of the summit, highlighting one of the common impediments to achieving consensus and meaningful change. "The scenarios we have created, however, will provide a policy-neutral set of platforms upon which some degree of agreement can be reached about the future direction of African healthcare."

The conference will focus on two burning issues in healthcare across Africa: the role of the private sector in healthcare and the challenges regarding the rapid spread of chronic diseases across the continent, which could overtake communicable diseases as the most common cause of death in Africa by 2030. By then, more people are likely to have diabetes than currently have HIV. "People are finally becoming aware of the growing burden of chronic disease, just as significant progress has been made in fighting the old killers," notes Meth-Cohn.

"In the past decade, Africa has made enormous progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS and malaria," confirms Sir Richard Feachem, director of the Global Health Group at the University of California, San Francisco, and formerly founding executive director of the Global Fund and under-secretary general of the United Nations. "We will discuss at the conference the audacious goal of malaria elimination in southern Africa and the huge opportunity provided by new scientific evidence on mass testing and treatment for HIV/AIDS."

Key speakers at the summit will discuss and debate a range of critical topics and questions, including:

• What is the right balance of private and public healthcare for Africa?
  
• What are the best practices for affordable medicine in Africa?
  
• What can be learnt from other emerging countries?
  
• How can healthcare systems best meet the demands of both infectious and chronic diseases?
  
• What are the best investments for public health infrastructure?

Line-up of speakers

Key speakers includes: Joseph M. Kasonde, minister of Health, Zambia; Tedros Adhanom, minister of Health, Ethiopia; Malebona Precious Matsoso, director general, National Department of Health, South Africa; Kgosi Letlape, president, African Medical Association; Luis Gomes Sambo, regional director, Africa, World Health Organisation; Norman Mabasa, chairman, South African Medical Association; Olive Shisana, CEO, South African Human Sciences Research Council and a host of other influential international and local healthcare stakeholders.

"The future of healthcare is one of the most pressing global issues of our time," says JJ van Dongen, vice president and market leader, Philips Africa. "Only through continued dialogue and collaboration can we build good healthcare solutions that will improve patient care and keep healthcare costs under control."

"So much is changing for healthcare in Africa at the moment," concludes Meth-Cohn. "Governments are starting to introduce universal health schemes and new private sector players now see opportunities across Africa. But a lot needs to come together to really improve healthcare outcomes. That's what this conference is about: bringing all the players together to ensure resources are used in the best way possible."

For more, go to cemea.economistconferences.com/event/healthcare-africa