Africa aid cuts provide health ‘opportunity’
Governments across the continent relied heavily on USAID, Washington's development agency, to fund health programs before it was shuttered last year.
The reduction of Western aid to African nations presents a significant chance for the continent to regain its independence, according to Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. For years, governments across Africa have been heavily dependent on USAID, the United States' development agency, to fund public health services.
Following the shutdown of USAID last year, approximately 700,000 lives were lost in the past 18 months due to these cuts. Despite the change in administrations in Western countries, Kaseya emphasized that the level of support provided previously will never be replicated. Kaseya is working alongside African governments to combat waste by eradicating fraud in procurement and salary payments, citing an instance where half of health staff salaries were revealed to be fraudulent.
Kaseya, who firmly believes that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo was exacerbated by the cuts, urged African governments to mobilize domestic resources through taxation to prevent further health crises.
Written by urgent.news from Semafor's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
