Our guest blogger today is Yvonne Chaka Chaka – Musician, UNICEF & Rollback Malaria Goodwill Ambassador, and Millennium Development Goal Envoy. Follow Yvonne on Twitter.
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As UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassador against Malaria, I know first hand the pain associated with losing a loved one from this completely preventable disease. This fight is personal for me. Several years ago I lost my dear friend and a member of my band, Phumzile Ntuli, to malaria.
After my grief, I became angry and indignant—I wanted to see the end of this parasite that stalks our continent.
Across Africa, we just don’t have malaria to contend with—our brothers and sisters continue to die of preventable and treatable diseases that rarely kill in other parts of the world. How many friends and family do you know that have met an untimely death due to HIV, TB, malaria or even diarrhoea? Let me tell you, if you can name even one person, that is one too many.
So I’m asking you today to sign ONE’s petition to African leaders calling on them to deliver the public health services we all need by keeping their financial commitments through health budgets that are open and transparent.
The petition reads:
Dear African leaders,
AIDS, TB, and malaria are all preventable and treatable, yet together they still kill more than 2 million Africans each year. Please keep your spending promises through clear and open health budgets, so that these deaths can be avoided.
In 2001, African leaders met in Abuja, Nigeria and each pledged to take measures to halt the spread of HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria in addition to increasing their countries’ funding for health to at least 15% of their annual budget. We note a handful of African countries have reached the 15% target, and 27 African countries have increased their domestic investment in health.
So while our governments have done more than they ever have before, we remain concerned that the results being delivered aren’t the results we expect and need.
Too many people continue to die needlessly due to lack of basic health care or drugs. This is why we’re asking our leaders to keep their promises, open up those budgets and tell us where the money is going and how it’s reaching patients. That way we can figure out why there aren’t enough drugs or medical supplies, and why our doctors and nurses aren’t available when needed or being paid on time. So we can focus our attention on where improvements in performance are required.
Open budgets will save lives. Please join me in demanding that our leaders take action by showing us how our health budgets are being spent.
