There are more Ethiopian-trained doctors practising in the city of Chicago alone than in the whole of Ethiopia, and more Malawian-trained doctors practising in Manchester than in Malawi. It seems that Africa has only 3 per cent of the global health workforce, despite bearing 25 per cent of the world’s diseases. More info

 

Just ten years ago, there were 1,600 doctors in Zambia but now there are only 400. In Kenya, 90 per cent of the medical personnel migrate to Europe and the USA every year seeking greener pastures and more stable livelihoods.

 

Where public health systems fail in African countries, most work in the communities is carried out by a multitude of NGOs and the private sector. The lack of standard operating codes or guidelines to coordinate multisector health responses to the HIV and AIDS epidemic frustrates attempts to make universal access to ARTs for all a reality.

 

HIV and AIDS reveals the fractures of African public health systems as opportunistic infections mask the epidemic. Stigma, discrimination, corruption and limited government spending on public health institutions especially aggravate prevention, care and treatment campaigns.

 

Therefore, African governments need to be pressured into spending on their public health institutions, while resource strained countries need adequate external support to make health for all a reality.

 

Numerous international declarations have been made as a road map to making an AIDS free world a reality. The role of the UN Special Envoy must ensure that these declarations and commitments are honoured.