When will universal health coverage be available in African countries?

Can African Countries Implement Universal Health Coverage ? Jennifer Van, a final year MSc student in Medical Health Policy Analysis at George Mason University in Virginia USA, gives her perspective.

The lack of universal coverage can slow down public health research, but this is not the only cause of the difficulties that our countries may face on health issues. Change and progress is on the African continent, and many countries have opted for universal coverage to promote healthcare.

For example, Rwanda is one of the first African countries to have succeeded in establishing universal health insurance. In fact, the coverage rate of its national community system is the highest in the continent, and this system, known as the health mutual, covers 91% of its population (Tafirenyika, 2017).

To succeed in this challenge, we must first of all solve the economic inequalities, that is to say, lower the poverty rate, increase the literacy index, etc., which will help to structure good reforms. However, universal disease coverage is not the only solution to meet the challenges of the millennium health in Africa.

We can initially semi-privatize public hospitals which will create jobs, competitiveness, equipment, better quality of care, and perhaps a better salary for the medical staff.

That said, the answer to the question is yes! because any country that believes in this societal ideology will make many attempts to implement this policy. ”

About the author:
Jennifer Van, is a graduate student in Medical Health Policy Analysis at George Mason University in Virginia USA. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Health and Human Services from Saint Francis University, Pennsylvania. Or she has conducted several research such as “the cultural comparison of the health system: France vs. United States “,” International Students Satisfaction in a private university in a small rural town “.

She has done several internships in Ivory Coast, her country of origin, in the Administrative Service of CHU Cocody in 2015, and in the Program of Fight against Cancer in 2017, where she wrote internship reports focusing on “the challenge of Public Hospitals and Universal Coverage “, and on” Insufficiency of a Program Against Cancer in a Low Resource Country: Côte d’Ivoire “.