Disease Costs Africa an ‘Astounding’ $2.4 Trillion in Lost Productivity Every Year

The report, which found that improving health access could boost Africa’s economy by at least $796 billion, was welcomed by attendees of the three day conference in Cape Verde.

“This report shows that we’re under-investing in terms of health as a continent,” Dr Jean Paul Adam, Minister of Health for the Seychelles, told The Telegraph. “While we can talk to the private sector about plugging some of the gaps, basic primary care is the responsibility of governments and we must invest from the outset.”

The report stressed the high economic cost of continuing the status quo. If health care improvements are sustained at the current rate, Africa would lose almost $1.7 trillion in GDP in 2030. But if the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are achieved, this figure would be just $892 billion – reducing lost productivity by almost half.

“When you compare the investment costs to what we lose annually, it is such a small price to pay,” Grace Kabaniha, health economist at WHO Africa, told the conference. “Achievement of the critical health SDG targets, including universal health coverage, would contribute to poverty eradication efforts on a large scale.”

Non-communicable diseases have overtaken infectious diseases as the largest drain on productivity, accounting for 37 per cent of the disease burden, while five countries – Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania – accounted for almost half of the total years lost in healthy life across Africa.

The report adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that investing in health boosts economic development through strengthening so-called “human capital.”

“I think it is very notable that the impacts [of good health] start at the childhood level,” said Dr Moeti. “This is where you start investing in your human capital, in people’s opportunity to learn, to live a good quality of life and to be productive.”

But efficiency of spending and strategic financing will also be key in achieving the SDGs, particularly universal health coverage – a central topic of the conference.

“Minds have to shift, we need to focus on preventing disease,” Dr Arlindo Nascimento de Rosario, Minister of Health and Social Security for Cape Verde, told The Telegraph. “There is no amount of money you can pour into a system that will make people healthy if you spend lots treating the diseases, and do not promote good health and prevention.”

Yet there are concerns that for many countries health spending is moving in the wrong direction; between 2000 and 2015, health spending as a proportion of the total budget dropped in 19 countries. And only four countries spent more than 15 per cent of GDP on health – despite numerous political declarations from Heads of States to reach the target.

But Dr Moeti said she believed Africa was moving in the right direction.

“What I’m confident about is that countries will progress towards universal health care by 2030. I am seeing countries already taking practical steps to translate political commitments into investment. That has not happened in the past,” she said.