Ouagadougou, 28 April 2008 -- The international conference on Primary Health Care (PHC) and health systems in Africa opened Monday in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, with host   President Blaise Campaoré calling on African countries and their development partners to establish a forum for exchanging information on best practices in the area of health.

“I appeal to Member States, partners, the private sector and civil society to institute a forum for the exchange of information on best practices as a way of re-revitalizing PHC and strengthening health systems in Africa”, President Compaoré told the conference.

The Burkinabe leader said that the PHC strategy and concept had played pivotal roles in bringing about a number of initiatives which have led to significant progress in health outcomes in Africa and other regions of the world.

President  Compaoré said that in spite of the progress made in implementing primary health care in Africa, several challenges still remained. These include the inability of several countries to make health care widely available to populations; limited access to potable water and the adverse effect of epidemics such as HIV/AIDS and Meningitis as well as the persistent prevalence of neglected tropical   diseases.

He also used the occasion to highlight progress made in the health sector by Burkina Faso in the implementation of the country’s 2001-2010 health plan.

These include an increase in the allocation to the health sector from the national budget from 7 % in 1999 to 15%   in 2008; an improvement in the population/health facility ratio  from 1/25,000 in 1985 to 1/9,800 in 2007; a reduction in the HIV/AIDS prevalence from 7% in 1997 to 2% in 2006, and the rapid progress made towards the elimination of river blindness, guinea worm and polio.

Addressing the conference, WHO Regional Director for Africa, DR Luis Sambo, commended efforts made by several Member States particularly in the provision of infrastructure, the implementation of ambitious training programmes and the acquisition of modern technical facilities. He also praised efforts by these countries to reduce the burden of illness and death from HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, river blindness and other endemic diseases, as well as infant and child diseases and women’s health problems.

He said: “In this regard, a decreasing trend has been noted in under-five mortality which fell from 188 per 1000 live births in 1970 to 165 per 1000 live births in 2005. This decrease is largely the fruit of intensification of health interventions related to child survival, especially immunization”.

Dr Sambo illustrated other successes recorded with the drop in measles mortality in the region  by 91% between 2000 and 2006; the reduction in polio-endemic countries  from 46 in 1988 to just one in 2008; the 99% reduction in guinea worm cases, from nearly 900 000 in 1989 to less than 4000 cases in 2007; the reduction of leprosy-endemic countries from 44 in 1990 to two in 2007, and the increase in the proportion of AIDS patients on antiretroviral treatment from 1% in 2003 to 37%   by the end of 2007.

Still, much remains to be done,  said the Regional Director,  who pointed out  that Africa, with only 11 % of the world’s population,  continued to bear a disproportionate 25% of  its disease burden.

He attributed this to the inability of health systems to perform optimally citing as reasons population movements caused by political crises, the implementation of structural adjustment programmes in the 1980s and the burden of external debts, among others.

Dr Sambo stated that evidence from within and outside the region had shown that the PHC approach remained not only appropriate for strengthening health systems but also a valid health promotion tool.

He told the conference that the main outcome of the conference, the “Ouagadougou Declaration”, aimed at strengthening health systems in Africa through a renewed approach to PHC. “We hope the Declaration will reflect the determination of everyone and that its implementation will transform our vision into reality and enable Africa to make up for its delayed health development", he said.

In her remarks, the South African Minister of Health, Dr Tshabala Msimang, speaking in her capacity as the Chair of Health Ministers of the African Union said “We must stay faithful to the principles of primary health care and find ways of designing health systems that first and foremost provide the best possible opportunities to the poorest of the poor to live full and productive lives.”

She also called on African countries to increase their allocations to the health sector and recognize and institutionalize traditional medicine which is used by the majority of Africans.

Welcoming participants to the conference, the Minister of Health of Burkina Faso, Mr. Alain  Bedouna Yoda,  stated that,  over the years,  the development of health systems based on PHC principles and national priorities had led to the improvement of the health of the people in Africa and elsewhere around the world.

He however added that unfortunately, the emergence of health threats such as HIV/AIDS and influenza  was adding to  Africa s  disease burden  and weakening the impact of efforts being made by countries.

The conference is being attended by 21 African health ministers and more than 500 participants from within and outside the region.

For more information contact:

Dr Amidou Baba-Moussa, Tel:+226 50 306 509, babamoussaa [at] bf.who.int

Dr Alima A.J. Diarra, Tel: +47  241 392, diarra [at] afro.who.int

Dr Saidou Barry, Tel: + 47 241 39337, barrys [at] afro.who.int

Mr. Rodrigue  Barry, Tel: + 226 70 21 43 12, barryr [at] bf.afro.who.int

Mr Samuel Ajibola, Tel: +47 241 39378, ajibolas [at] bf.afro.who.int

Mr. Collins Boakye-Agyemang,Tel: +47 39420, e-mail: boakyec [at] afro.who.int

Madam Flavienne Issembe, Tel: +47 39352, issembef [at] afro.who.int

Madam Joana Teixeira, Tel:+47 39382, teixeiram [at] afro.who.int