Health Ministers attending the Africa Health Summit have renewed their commitment to the 2001 Abuja Declaration, pledging once again to allocate 15 percent of their national budgets to health.
The overall goal is to achieve Universal Health Coverage—ensuring that everyone can access quality health services without suffering financial hardship.
More than two decades since the commitment was made during the April 2001 African Summit on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and other infectious diseases, no participating country has consistently met the 15 percent target.
Speaking at the latest summit held in Kampala on Friday, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, Uganda’s Minister of Health, said that achieving Universal Health Coverage requires African countries to become more self-reliant. She highlighted pharmaceutical manufacturing as one of the urgent priorities.
She noted that African nations have already agreed to increase local vaccine production to meet 60 percent of the continent’s needs. Dr. Aceng emphasized that this goal cannot be reached through competition, but through collaboration to determine which country manufactures which products—citing Tanzania’s decision to procure mosquito nets from Uganda as an example of regional cooperation.
Joash Arthur Maangi, Kenya’s High Commissioner to Uganda, who represented Kenya’s Health Minister, said Kenya currently allocates 10 percent of its budget to health. He added that the country aims to reach the 15 percent target by 2030 as part of its Universal Health Coverage agenda.
Maangi was speaking during a panel featuring ministers from South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Rwanda—each of whom reaffirmed their intention to work toward the Abuja target by 2030.
However, most countries remain far from achieving this goal, and the likelihood of reaching it within the next four years is slim. Uganda allocates only 7 percent of its national budget to health. South Sudan stands at 2 percent, Ethiopia at 7.2 percent, and Somalia at just 1.3 percent. Rwanda is the only country close to the commitment, currently allocating 13.5 percent.
Despite these challenges, Dr. Kennedy Gaaniko Baime, Under Secretary in South Sudan’s Ministry of Health, said his country remains committed to the Abuja Declaration.
