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Improving the quality of life has a positive impact on the number of years lived in good health on the black continent. Between 2000 and 2019, life expectancy in good health in Africa increased from 46 to 56 years, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) report titled “Monitoring Universal Health Coverage in the African Region”. This ten-year increase is the largest, over the period under review, anywhere in the world. Although its life expectancy is still lower than the world average (64 years), Africa is on the right track with the improvement of health services in particular. In this part of the globe, says the source, the rate of health coverage for essential services is 46% on average in 2019 compared to 24% in 2000. “This means that more people are living longer in good health, with fewer infectious disease threats and better access to disease prevention care and services,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, during a press briefing last month. Furthermore, she said Africa’s progress “is testimony to the Region’s commitment to improving the health and well-being of the population”. For the World Health Organization, the most important results have been achieved in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. However, high blood pressure, diabetes and other non-communicable diseases are gaining ground on a continent that lacks health services adapted to the management of these pathologies. In the short and medium term, Dr Matshidiso Moeti pleaded for the strengthening of the fight once morest cancer and other non-communicable diseases. Otherwise, “advances in health might be jeopardized”, warned the Batswana. At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, African health systems were disrupted. A WHO survey, carried out in 2021, revealed that more than 90% of 36 African countries reported problems (vaccination, nutrition, neglected tropical diseases…) greater than in other regions of the world. Most African governments spend less than 50% of their budgets on health. Only Algeria, Botswana, Cabo Verde, Eswatini, Gabon, Seychelles and South Africa do better.

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