Johannesburg, 1 September -- The 53rd session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa (RC53) opened Monday in Johannesburg with a call on WHO and its Member States to seriously address the challenges of overburdened health care systems in the Region, the loss of skilled health staff to developed countries, and the prevailing inequity brought about by the wide and growing gap between poor and rich countries. 
The call was made by South Africa's Defence Minister, Mr. Mosiuoa Lekoto, while officially opening the meeting on behalf of South African President, Mr. Thabo Mbeki. The annual meeting of the Regional Committee reviews and sets policy directions for the 46 countries in the WHO African Region in health and health-related matters.

Mr. Lekoto stated that poverty, ill health, civil strife and political instability constituted the other major challenges to the Region, and stressed the need for greater cooperation among African countries using home-grown programmes such as the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) as the policy and institutional framework to coordinate intra-African collaboration.

Underlining the link between peace and health, he said that efforts of health authorities would be in vain if war, conflict and poor governance continued to plague Africa. "Africa has a duty to end all conflicts to allow its children to prosper," he said. "No country can comply with the principles of good governance unless conditions for good governance are in place."

He stated that as players in global health, WHO and health workers should ensure that pressure was sustained to ensure the realization and enhancement of the stewardship role of governments in mobilizing and harnessing resources, and the strengthening of health systems and services. These, he added, was with a view to ensuring that health services could provide effective and equitable healthcare built on evidence-based public health practice, including traditional medicine.

Mr. Lekota expressed confidence in the ability of WHO and the Health Ministers to provide the leadership to realize the targets enunciated in the Millennium Development Goals and various WHO resolutions. "This year, we saw this leadership in action, in the efficient and effective manner with which governments and WHO handled the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome epidemic", said the South African Defence Minister. "The threat of SARS, which had a potential to create global economic havoc was contained with military precision. The world was once again reminded of the importance of public health in economic activity."

In his address, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Ebrahim Samba, paid tribute to the government of the Republic of Congo for creating conditions conducive to the smooth functioning of the WHO Africa Regional Office in Brazzaville, and to the South African authorities for hosting a meeting of the Regional Committee for the second time, the first being in 1997.

He stated that the health challenges facing the Region were enormous but expressed confidence that with the political will demonstrated by countries, and the technical support of WHO and other development partners, the health situation in Africa would continue to improve.

In his intervention, the African Union Interim Commissioner for Social Affairs and Afro-Arab Cooperation, Ambassador Mahamat Doutoum, decried the loss of African trained health personnel to developed countries, some of which have developed programmes for recruiting medical personnel from Africa. "This challenge must be tackled from the highest levels of the United Nations system, the African Union, Member States and Professional Organizations …," said Ambassador Doutoum. "The African Union Commission is therefore proposing that the issue of brain drain in Africa be put on the agenda of the next World Assembly and eventually to the United Nations General Assembly."

He added: "We know that brain drain cannot be completely stopped. Nevertheless one way of ameliorating the situation is for the importer of trained human resources to compensate equitably for such export; and for incentives to be put in place in African countries to retain professionals."

For further information, please contact

Samuel T. Ajibola
Public Information and Communication Unit 
World Health Organization - Regional Office for Africa 
P.O. Box 6, Brazzaville, Congo. 
E-mail: ajibolas [at] afro.who.int (ajibolas[at]afro[dot]who[dot]int)
Tel:+ 47 241 39378; Fax: + 47 241 39513; 
in Johannesburg: +27-72-722-5680

Or

Greer van Zyl, Health Information & Promotion 
WHO Liaison Office in South Africa
Tel: (27) 12-354-8560; Mobile: + 27- 83-647-7045