Less than 2% of health budget finances diagnostics sector in Africa – Dr Pamba

Less than two per cent of the health budget of the continent goes into financing diagnostics services in Africa, Dr Allan Pamba, the Executive Vice-President, Diagnostics, Roche Africa has disclosed.

He said the meagre quantum of resource large, hindered service delivery and an albatross on the sector.

“These low finances affect the service, labs, reagents, and the workforce at large and reduce health security in Africa,” he explained.

Worst of all, it leaves doctors in a conundrum, not knowing what treatment to exact when cases came to their attention, he said.

Dr Pamba was speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview to draw a link between diagnostics services and treatment of patients on the continent.

It was on the sidelines of the Sixth Biennial Conference of the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM2023) in Cape Town, South Africa.

The Executive Vice-President of Roche Africa, the strategic sponsors of the Conference made these remarks.

The ASLM2023 conference is being held on the theme: “Shaping laboratory systems and diagnostics services for the 21st Century: Embracing the Change.”

The theme reflects the importance of laboratory medicine in addressing the challenges of the 21st Century, such as infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, and strengthening of health systems.

Dr Pamba said, “Even with the meagre budgets we should know what we are treating, must be accurate to draw a sharp linkage between laboratory diagnostics and medicine for patients in a balanced proportion to attain healthcare delivery.”

He noted that optimising laboratory networks and diagnostics, transforming diagnostics through AI, robotic technology, molecular lab testing, pathogen genomics and bioinformatics were crucial to the provision of modern diagnostic service and must be embraced.

He advocated a proportionate allocation to the health budget in Africa to determine what goes into diagnostics and what goes into treatment, to strike a perfect balance towards bringing efficiency and avoiding wastages.

The Chief Executive Officer of ASLM, Mr Nqobile Ndlovu, said less than five per cent of rapid diagnostics were produced in Africa and commended South Africa, Morocco and a third country for rising to the billing.

He said the diagnostics sector was plagued with challenges such as gaps in access, resources, fragmented data management, infrastructure and regulatory compliance challenges.

“This is further cemented by the Regional Strategy on Diagnostics and Laboratory Services and Systems, which was passed in July 2023 for the WHO Africa Region,” he said.

Mr Ndlovu said the Bills had placed Africa at the midpoint to define and change the future discourse of diagnostics.

Dr Ignatius A. N. Awinibuno, the Director of Allied Health of Ministry of Health (MOH), who led Ghana’s Delegation to the ASLM, in an interview with the GNA said only five per cent needs of diagnostics out of the 95 per cent required by the continent were imported, which rendered the entire continent sharply vulnerable.

He disclosed that the country contributed only six per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to health financing, far from WHO’s demands.

Dr Awinibuno said politically, the Africa Union’s prescription for member states to contribute one per cent towards the financing of research and development had not been actualised, making financial support to funding health budgets across the continent awkward.

The four-day conference ended with a call to action including exploring cutting-edge innovations and advanced technologies to revolutionalise laboratory medicine, reshape African healthcare, and impact the global health landscape.

Source: GNA

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