BMJ 2005;331:755-758 (1 October)
Confronting Africa's health crisis: more of the same will
not be enough
D M Sanders, C Todd, M Chopra
The international community needs to rethink its approach to
Africa if it wants to produce sustained improvements in health
Introduction
At current rates of progress, sub-Saharan Africa will not
achieve any of the millennium development goals.1 In health,
the situation is especially bleak, with little or no
substantive progress since 1990. All key health indicators
are at much worse levels than those in any other of the
world's developing regions (with the exception of
malnutrition in children under 5 in South Asia, but there
the situation is improving).2 3 In this article, we
critically examine the main approaches currently supported
by the international community for accelerating progress
towards the health related goals—increased aid, reform of
the health sector, and global health initiatives—and outline
an alternative approach for improving the health of African
people.
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