Health Targets Have To Be Met

It is a no-brainer that Malawi struggles to meet its health targets, largely due to resource constraints.

For instance, despite being party to the Abuja Declaration, which requires signatories—including Malawi—to be channeling at least 15 percent of the national budget towards the health sector, this has remained a tall order for the country.

Indeed, instead of putting hands to the wheel, in terms of ensuring that the health sector, especially the public health sector, is well funded, the government continues to rely on development partners to push its health sector development agenda.

And, learning from experience, overreliance on external forces has, at times, had a negative effect on service delivery. For instance, when the United States Agency for International Development froze some funds to the country and other countries early last year, healthcare service delivery was negatively affected.

This must serve as food for thought for all stakeholders in Malawi.

However, this does not mean Malawi can do without development partners.

For this reason, we laud the Government of Germany for supporting Malawi’s health sector, with a particular focus on improving youths’ wellbeing and expanding access to sexual and reproductive health services.

The foreign government has just handed over 16 new four-wheel-drive Land Cruiser vehicles to Malawi’s Ministry of Health. The vehicles are expected to boost service delivery in 10 districts of the country.

The initiative aims to improve access to sexual and reproductive health services for young people, especially adolescents, in rural and underserved communities.

This is what productive partnership is all about.

Now the onus is on us, Malawians, to show that we can productively utilise the support we get from well-wishers.

By putting the resources to good use, other partners can follow suit, thereby helping Malawi meet its health goals.

Lastly, we would like to urge the Ministry of Finance, as well as the Ministry of Health, to continue pushing for the attainment of the 15 percent budgetary allocation target, in line with the Abuja Declaration, so that the country can improve on health service delivery.

As they say, a healthy nation is a prosperous nation.