Forum on Advancing Health Priorities in Africa

On September 20, 2017, CCA sponsored a Health Forum in New York during the week of the United Nations General Assembly meetings. Participants included Jeff Sturchio, Chairman of Corporate Council on Africa, Dr. Mwele Ntuli Malecela, Director, Office of the Regional Director, Regional Office for Africa, Betty Chiang, Senior Director, Head of Public Health & Medical Affairs, Gilead Sciences, Trevor Gunn, Vice President, International Relations, Medtronic, David Barash, Chief Medical Officer, GE Foundation, and Scott Ratzan, President, AB InBev Foundation.The panel focused on identifying new solutions for health improvement in Africa by examining ways to make health a greater financial priority for African countries; identifying possible opportunities for engagement with CCA members, African governments, multilateral institutions and stakeholders interested in advancing workplace, community and public health; and exploring lessons learned from communicable disease control over the last twenty years.Keynote speaker, Dr. Malecela focused on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on Heath. She stated that the World Health Organization welcomed partnerships with the private sector in accomplishing universal health care coverage for all African citizens. Her presentation centered around partnership in the area of non-communicable diseases, an area of rising concern for African governments.Much of the discussion centered on creating enabling environments to ensure successful public/private partnerships. All agreed that before collaboration commences, partners need to create a framework for collaboration that defines each party’s interests in the partnership, possible areas of conflict, and procedures that ensure monitoring and evaluation of progress. The framework also needs to include checks and balances to ensure accountability.In addition to the extensive discussion regarding a successful framework for collaboration, panelists spoke about some of the major concerns in Africa’s healthcare sector. These topics included, but were not limited to, drugs, safe surgery, anesthesia, a holistic approach to diseases, effective regulatory frameworks, and innovative public/private partnerships.The Forum was generously sponsored by BP, Chevron, Covington and Burling LLP, Dangote Group, ExxonMobil Corporation, Gilead Sciences, Inc., Lockheed Martin International, Sudatel Telecom Group and Zenith Bank.