Healthcare in Africa: Challenges, Opportunities and an Emerging Model for Improvement

Abstract

This paper suggests a model for sustainable improvement of health system performance which takes into consideration historical lessons, and current opportunities and challenges facing Africans. The essential elements of the suggested model include decentralized governing structures linking the health system to communities; identification of an essential care package for health (ECPH) based on peoples’ priorities; an improved information system to provide evidence of improvement in service access, delivery, and outcomes; and regular dialogue among stakeholders to enhance informed demand, responsibility, and accountability. The model attempts to pay due regard to the people's own beliefs, knowledge, customs, experiences, practices, systems, and structures that give meaning to the ECPH and mitigate the discontinuity between people’s perceptions and the health intervention package through regular dialogue.