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ADDRESS BY HIS
EXCELLENCY THE
VICEPRESIDENT
OF
THE
REPUBLIC
OF
GHANA
JOHNDRAMANIMAHAMA
AT
THE
UN-ECOSOC
ANNUAL
MINISTERIAL REVIEW
CONFERENCE
HELD
AT
LA.
PALM
ROYAL BEACH
HOTEL
ON
WEDNESDAY, 10TBJUNE,
2009
Mr.
ChairmanThe President of
the
UN
Economic
and
Social
Council
The
Executive
Secretary
of
the
Economic Commission
for Africa
The
Assistant
Secretary General
of
United Nations
Department
of Economics
and
Social
Affairs (UNDESA)Hon. Ministers of
Health
Representatives
of
UN
Bodies
here present
Members
of
the
Diplomatic
Corps
Invited Guests
Ladies
and Gentlemen
It
is a
pleasure
for
me
to
be
here
with
you
today and
to
be
part
of this
review
meeting
of
African
Health
Ministers. Let
me
take
the opportunity
to also
welcomeyou
to
Ghana
and
to
urge
you
to find
some
time
to
experience
the proverbial
Ghanaian
hospitality.In
theworld
today,
development
in
all
sectors
is
being
driven
by
technology,
especially
by
ICT. Just
over
a
decade
ago,
the
state of telecommunication
and
IT
was
abysmal
on the
continent.
It
was
almost
impossible
to
make
a
direct
call
to
another
African
state
from
any
country in
Africa.
Even
within
countries
making
a
call
from
one
city
to
the
other
was
a
nightmare.
A
decade
ofpolicy
changes
has
changed
the
face of
telecoms
and
ICT
in
Africa
and made
it
one
of
the most exciting continents
for
investment in
the
sector.Developments of
IT
are
not
only
influencing
communication
between
us,
but are
revolutionizing
capacity
and
efficiency in
almost
every
sector. And the
health
sector
is
noexception.
Perhaps
this
sector has
seen more
transformation
as
a
result of
the
IT
revolution
than
any other
area
ofhuman
endeavour.
IT
has
made
possible
a
whole revolution in what
has
been
widely
called
tele-medicine.
Mr.
Chairman,
as you
are
aware,
we
live
on
a
continent
where
inequality in
health and
health outcomes
are
so
marked
that
sometimes
the
difference
between
survival
and
death
depends
on
which
specific
geographicareaone
is
located
within
the
same
country.
Indeed,
rural-urban differences in
mortality
rates are clear
indications of
the distributive
inequalities in health services.
Many
people
living
outside
urban areas
in
our
variouscountries
are
living
in extremelyprecarious
conditions,
with
higher risk
of
being
affected
by
health
problems
and
lower opportunities
to
address
them.
1
Ladies
and
Gentlemen,inaddition
to
these challenges
I
have
just
mentioned,
Africa
has
a
huge
deficit
when
it
comes
to
the
health workforce
required
to
provide services
to
ourpeople.
Some estimates
put
this
figure
at
around
4.5 million.But
we
are
constrained
by
the
shortfall
in
resources,
infrastructure
and
time to train
and
deploy
such
a
hugenumber
of
health workers. Even
when we have
stepped
up
our
effortsto
train
suchpersonnel we
are
not
able
to
compete
with
the
developed
world in
terms of
attractive
remuneration
to retain them.
This
paucity in
trained
health
workers reflects
in
the
high
infant
and
maternal
mortality
rates
existing
on the
continent.Mr.
Chairman,
·all
these challenges
create
unique
opportunities
for
eHealth in
Africa.
As
wedidover
a
decade
ago
to
bring
telecom
and
IT
to
our people,
a
careful
reviewof
policy
to
enhance
public
private
partnership
would
create
the
resource
flow
needed
deploy
modem
information
and
communicationtechnology in
the
healthsector.
Mr.
Chairman,
I
am
informed
that
through
the mobile phone,
health
events
are
reported
almost in
real
time
and
this
has improved
response
time
remarkably
in
some
parts
of
EastAfrica. In
some
areas
health
workers
are
supported on
line
to
solve
problems
and
make
diagnosis
through
contact
with
experts
located
probably
1000s of
milesawayfrom
the
little
rural
hospital.
And
even
surgeries
are done
with
on
line
support
from
specialists.
Hon Ministers
of
Health, I
don't advocate
that
deployment
ofeHealthwould
like
a
magic
wand resolve
all
the challengeswe
currently
face
in
our
health sector.
We
must continue
the
hard and
painful
work
of
providing
more health
infrastructure,
equipment,
and
personnel
within
easy
reach
of
our
communities. It is
refreshing
to
notethat
ehealth
holds
significant
potential
for
solving
some
of
our protracted challenges
in
the
health
sector.
By
systematically
implementing ehealth
solutions
in ourvariouscountries
we
can
ameliorate
to
some
extent
theproblems
of
underdeveloped
infrastructure,
personnel
etc
to
address
both health and medical
problems
facing
our people.
But
as
countries in
Africa,
we
all
share
cornmon
challenges
in
our
effort
to
secure
the
healthof
ourpeople. We
should therefore
rally
behind
common
principles in the
search
for
ehealth
solutions
in
our
various countries.
In
my
estimation,
these
principlesshould
focus
on
the
need
to
improve
access
to
the
type
of
care
needed
by
individuals
and
communities,
improve
quality
of
care
and
improve
efficiency
in
the
use
ofour
limited
resources
for health.In
other
words,
ehealth
solutions
in
Africa
should
be
driven
by
the
need
to
address
existinginequities
in
the
provision
of
healthservices
in
our
countries.
Mr
Chairman,
improving
access
to
healthservicesthroughehealth should
aim
at
expanding the
scope
of activities of
limitedhealth
personneland
specialists
in
a
way
that
will
minimize
the
effect of
their
low
numbers
in
the
sector.
In a situation
where
all
our
specialists
work
in
our teaching
hospitals,
we
need
to findways
of
making their
expertise
available
to
people
living
in
the rural areas.
It
has
been
noted
that
in
our
existing circumstances
thedeployment
of
information
and
communicationtechnology
will
be
cost
effective. In this
regard, we
should
also focus
on the
use
of ehealth
to
supportthe
establishment of
rapid
response
systems
to
enhance
performance
in
both
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