COVID-19: 29 million Africans expected to suffer extreme poverty, says African Development Bank

The African Development Bank Group (AFDBG) says about 29 million Africans, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, are expected to suffer extreme poverty due to the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.

The bank said studies had shown that COVID-19 had tested the economic capacities of countries and the situation was particularly problematic for most ECOWAS countries.

Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, President of the AfDB, disclosed this on Friday in Abuja at the 22nd Ordinary Session of Assembly of Health Ministers of ECOWAS.

The Ordinary Session of West African Health Organisation (WAHO) is an annual meeting of the sub-continent’s 15-member state to brainstorm on health-related issues in the region and find possible solutions.

Adesina, represented by Dr. Beth Dunford, AfDB’s Vice-President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development, said the event was expected to provide the ministers an objective economic assessment that stressed the need for renewed efforts towards ending the pandemic for economic recovery.

He noted that the session came at a challenging time of the COVID-19 era and also as a window of tremendous opportunity for collaboration to improve the sub-region’s healthcare infrastructure.

According to him, in spite of the noticeable progress in health status, Africa still bore 24 per cent of the global disease burden, although the continent is host to only about 15 per cent of the world’s population.

He added that infectious and parasitic diseases were responsible for 60 per cent of deaths worldwide, noting that most of these deaths were preventable and occurred in Africa.

The AfDB president said that Africa’s burden of disease was projected to increase by 28 per cent , this decade as epidemic outbreaks such as Ebola became more frequent.

“Health service delivery infrastructure is at the centre of health systems but these services lag behind on the continent.

“First, health service delivery is underfunded, at approximately $4.5 billion in annual Capex investment, compared with the need of $26 billion estimated by the bank.

“By comparison, countries like Laos, Vietnam, India or Bolivia spend more than 20 per cent of government health expenditure on infrastructure, compared to only 6 to 7 per cent in Africa,” he explained.

Adesina added that Africa’s health infrastructure underperforms in critical dimensions of access, quality, efficiency.

”For instance, around 30 per cent of African populations live over two hours away from essential health services. The risk of death after surgery in Africa is double the global average, and diagnostic accuracy by healthcare workers is as low as 30 per cent in some countries.

“The lack of structural and operational efficiency results in high costs and compromised care.

“In addition, existing health service delivery infrastructure is inadequately prepared to respond to crises, or to adapt to rapidly evolving needs,” he said.

NAN