Africa Global Health, with support from the Africa Centre for Disease Control during the African Health Risk Reduction conference, has resolved to empower African countries to take the lead in spearheading initiatives to achieve healthy sovereignty in Africa and throughout the world.
The health sovereignty would be achieved through health harm reduction with a particular focus on Water, Environment and Food Security in line with the relevant Sustainable Development Goals
The conference co-organised by the Moroccan Ministry of Health and Social Protection, the Ministry of Agriculture, Marine Fisheries, Rural Development, Water and Forests in partnership with Africa Global Health would envision a future for all African nations to collaborate, innovate and share equitable universal health care and contribute their expertise and resources to uplift health system across the global south.
The conference produced a resolution and declaration to adopt a Pan-African charter for health harm reduction that incorporates medical, social, economic and psychological factors related to population health in diverse African Communities.
The resolution further plans to create a common solidarity movement in which South-South expertise is mobilised and shared for continental sovereignty in health management.
It also resolved to promote strong collaborative work under the stewardship of African leaders and experts in both public and private progressive African health development.
The conference also resolved to foster collaboration between African countries to create unified Pan-African evidence-based health policies and disaster preparedness frameworks and the application of technology and innovations.
Another issue brought to the front burner was the need for African countries to cancel visa application processes to give access to each other partnership without restrictions and to have a common purpose and drive to deepen partnership and spirit of brotherhood on the continent.
However, the Moroccan Minister of Health and Social Protection, Dr Khalid Alt Taleb, while addressing newsmen expressed worry that Africa Nationale who are experts in various fields of endeavour were migrating from the continent to another, saying the vision was to establish an African framework for universal health coverage through insights from public health experts.
Similarly, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development and Water Forests, Mohammed Sadiki explained that the kingdom of Morocco was recycling its water system and embarking on massive irrigation for food sufficiency to reduce the impact of drought on the North African region.
The Conference which hosted 83 Countries from 27th to 29th of September has helped African countries to forge partnerships, invest in health, infrastructure and leverage collective knowledge to ensure access to quality healthcare as a universal reality for Africa to be a beacon of hope and progress fostering a healthier and more equitable world for all.