We,
the Ministers responsible for Finance and Ministers responsible for Health in the EAC Partner States assembled here
in Arusha City, the United Republic of Tanzania, today the 23rd June, 2016,
for the High Level Ministerial Dialogue meeting on Sustainable Financing for Health and HIV & AIDS Coverage;
Noting that the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community provides for the promotion of the management
of health delivery systems and better planning mechanisms to enhance efficiency within the Partner States;
Further
noting that significant strides have been made in the development of
policies to enhance cooperation in
health and observing that Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3 target
3.8 on achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) including financial
risk protection, access to quality essential health care services and
access to safe water, effective, quality and
affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all;
Acknowledging that Universal Health Coverage is only achievable if there is strong focus on sustainable and reliable
financing;
Acknowledging
that to date almost all Partner States still experience challenges in
operationalizing the Abuja
Declaration of allocating 15% of the government budget to Health and
that the combined health and HIV resource gap remains high.
Cognisant that in the EAC Region only about 65% of health care financing comes from domestic sources (i.e. Governments,
Private Sector and out of pocket spending) and 35% from external funding.
Recognizing the population dynamics in the region that create vulnerabilities to health and HIV;
Concerned
about the out of pocket expenditure in the EAC region that ranges from
10% to 30% which, for some Partner
States, is above the recommended WHO threshold of 20%, and leads to
impoverishment of families, hinders access to health services and
contributes to observed poverty levels in the region;
Noting
that the diminishing funding for HIV and AIDS programming at Partner
State and regional level has contributed
to not achieving the set Millennium Development Goals (MDG) targets,
Concerned that dependency on external funding in HIV is quite high and
that the expected decline in that support over the coming years is
expected to affect all EAC countries to a significant
extent;
Recognising that health is wealth and that investing in health yields dividends constitutes a fundamental goal
of economic growth and development;
We, the Ministers responsible for Finance and Ministers responsible for Health on this 23rd day of June
2016 hereby commit ourselves to the following;
1.
adopt
an EAC Framework of Action on Sustainable Financing with recommended
strategic actions, encompassing the three policy options among others,
namely;
a)
reprioritisation of public spending towards health to reach 15% recommended in the Abuja Declaration;
b)
increased tax administration efficiency in the Partner States and earmark taxes to increase financing for health and HIV; and
c)
increased efficiency of health and HIV service delivery to bridge the resource gap;
2.
conduct
efficiency audits in the health sector to inform our policies on
efficiency improvement in delivery of quality health care;
3.
implement
mechanisms to strengthen health regulatory authorities to ensure
delivery of quality health care in pursuit of Universal Health Coverage;
4.
design
and implement innovative financing mechanisms to ensure sustainable
access and optimal utilisation of quality healthcare services;
5.
promote
the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs), research and
evidence to inform the development of health and HIV investment cases
that will
enable advocacy towards Universal Health Care (UHC) Financing;
6.
promote
multi-sectoral synergies including Public Private Partnerships at
national and sub national level to leverage additional health and HIV
financing in the
Partner States; and
7.
support and participate in convening of the 1st EAC Summit on Investment in Health with the aim of attaining health related Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) by 2030 in all Partner States.
Signed on this 23rd Day of June 2016 at Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania.
__________________________
Hon. Minister Responsible for Finance
Republic of Burundi
|
__________________________
Hon. Minister Responsible for Health
Republic of Burundi
|
______________________________
Hon. Minister Responsible for Finance
Republic of Kenya
|
____________________________
Hon. Minister Responsible Health
Republic of Kenya
|
______________________________
Hon. Minister Responsible for Finance
Republic of Rwanda
|
______________________________
Hon. Minister Responsible for Health
Republic of Rwanda
|
______________________________
Hon. Minister Responsible for Finance
The United Republic of Tanzania
|
_____________________________
Hon. Minister Responsible for Health
The United Republic of Tanzania
|
_____________________________
Hon. Minister Responsible for Finance
Republic of Uganda
|
Hon. Minister Responsible for Health
Republic of Uganda
|
Hakuna maoni:
Chapisha Maoni