Dr Iqbal Survé, Chairperson of Sekunjalo Investment Holdings was a keynote speaker third Africa Health Business Symposium to discuss integration of Universal Health Coverage. Picture: Nokuthula Mbatha/African News Agency (ANA) Dr Iqbal Survé, Chairperson of Sekunjalo Investment Holdings was a keynote speaker third Africa Health Business Symposium to discuss integration of Universal Health Coverage. Picture: Nokuthula Mbatha/African News Agency (ANA)
The third Africa Health Business Symposium was a key platform to discuss integration of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
Dr Iqbal Survé, Chairperson of Sekunjalo Investment Holdings was a keynote speaker. The Symposium was held at Hyatt Regency in Rosebank.
Integration of UHC as a goal in the national health strategies of African countries is becoming increasingly critical as the continent continues to bear the highest disease burden, an increasing population and the lack of a health workforce to meet healthcare demands.
“To achieve Universal Health Coverage you need collaboration and integration from various disciplines. But most importantly you need capital,” said Survé.
“Governments are extremely limited in term of their ability to achieve this health coverage... in developing countries like ours where there are huge deficits, not only in the healthcare system, but in housing, education and skill sets in the economy, ministries are competing for funds in order to achieve universal health care,” Survé said.
“The only way to achieve this, he said, is to build a solid partnership with the private sector, civil society and of course with government. Therefore Diversified approaches are vital.”
Africa has witnessed a rapid increase in expenditure over the last two decades with increasing out-of-pocket expenditure for primary healthcare services.
Access to health plays a central role in enabling sustainable development, economic growth and prosperity.
The symposium brings together the public sector, key private sector stakeholders and decision makers as well as development partners in the African healthcare space fostering investments, growth and knowledge sharing in the sector.
Diversified approaches will create the road map to significantly expand the number of people covered by risk pooling arrangements, with substantial benefits to health care, optimising resource use and maximising results.