ACCRA, July 21 (Xinhua)
The Assembly of the African Union (AU) on Tuesday opened its extraordinary session in Accra, the Ghanaian capital, to discuss solutions to various diseases endemic to the continent.
The two-day session includes the ministerial session on Tuesday and the heads of state and government meeting on Wednesday to make decisions to address the continent’s health challenges, including maternal deaths and communicable and non-communicable diseases.
AU Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs, and Social Development Amma Twum-Amoah said the continent seeks answers to five important questions, including what the continent must do differently, who will be responsible, how implementation (of health interventions) will be financed, how progress will be measured, and how leaders of the continent will hold themselves accountable to their citizens.
“We need a candid and outcome-oriented declaration,” Twum-Amoah noted, stressing the need to retain the continent’s valuable workforce.
“We must address poor working conditions, limited career opportunities, and other factors driving health workers to migrate.Training health workers without creating pathways to employ and retain them is a loss of public investment and human potential,” she said.
Ghana’s Health Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh said Africa is increasingly demonstrating that “when we lead with determination, innovation, and partnership, we can shape our future.”
