ADDIS ABABA (ENA)–The 7th East Africa Healthcare Federation Conference is underway in Addis Ababa under the theme “Revolutionizing Healthcare Through Digital Technology, in Africa.”
The East Africa Healthcare Federation is one of the platforms that brings healthcare professional together in an effort to discuss progress towards the health targets postulated by the year 2030.
Speaking at the opening of the two-day conference today, Ethiopia’s Health Minister Dr. Amir Aman said this federation plays a big role in modernizing the tertiary care by working together with the private sector and private manufacturers to tackle pharmaceutical low accessibility.
According to Dr. Amir, the public and private health sectors have roles to play in addressing the complex and difficult challenges to increase the quality and equitable distribution of health service to the vast populace.
Dr. Amir said, “In Ethiopia we are in the process of conducting robust and systemic public-private dialogues. Such dialogues are expected to result in a shared understanding and definitions of roles of the public and the private sector.”
He further noted that neither the public sector nor the private could tackle the need of healthcare for millions adequately.
The private sector can play a vital role for economic and social integration between countries, he added.
Africa Healthcare Federation Chairman, Dr. Amit N. Thakker said, “We must encourage the development of a level playing field for both public and private providers by ensuring fair policies and frameworks, including improvements in financing mechanisms, that would enable them to deliver their expertise, and to support one another, thus leveraging the power of public-private partnerships.”
Innovations have proved that this task is critical, he added.
Dr. Thakker stated that some of Ethiopia’s health care trends are very unique and many of us want to learn from those trends, especially when it comes to human resources for health.
“We want to also learn from you how you have been able to bring the community health workers into the whole health ecosystem to try and promote quality and affordable healthcare.”
The Conference aspires to bring sharing of knowledge and new advancements in the healthcare industry and enhancing the public private partnership, it was learned.
Seven East African countries, namely Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda, are members of the Federation. .
Source: ENA