Health governance in Sub-Saharan Africa

The advent of global health governance means health administration that transcends national boundaries. In view of the interdependence of states and increasing movement of people, the spread of contagious diseases and the heightened complexity of global health issues make cooperation among countries to be indispensable. Unfortunately resourcing remains a critical challenge to effective health governance. The uncontrollable spread of Ebola in West Africa in 2014 is a good case example of the impact of limited financial and human resources in combating highly contagious diseases that are a potential global threat to human life. It is important to note from the onset that health governance borders on human rights, essentially the right to life. It is for this reason that health needs to remain a top priority for all nations, rich and poor. The disparity in terms of the quality of healthcare and health service provision in developed and developing countries is apparent. ‘Good governance in health systems promotes effective delivery of health services’ (Lewis and Petterson, 2009: 2). Sub-Saharan Africa’s performance on health outcomes remains poor despite Sub-Saharan African nations’ financial commitment, albeit limited, and foreign aid. There is widespread poor service delivery, poor procurement systems marred by mismanagement and corruption, and poor health infrastructure. Many indicators for health outcomes show slow progress in Sub-Saharan Africa. Infant mortality rates per 1000 live births, for example, dropped slightly between 1990 and 2013 from 107 to 66 while comparatively for the Euro area they remained at a single digit (from 8 to 3) in the same period (The World Bank, 2015). There is also the challenge of inadequate resources, weak health systems in terms of access, quality, weak human and institutional capacities. These negative situations are exacerbated by brain drain to richer countries, natural calamities and manmade disasters, especially war. Poor funding by governments is a major contributing factor as the effectiveness of interventions on health is related to the availability of resources. In 2010, Sub-Saharan Africa spent 6.5% of the