AFRICA: It is how you spend the money that saves lives

KAMPALA, 28 July 2010 (IRIN): Members of the African Union (AU) reaffirmed at the end of their meeting on 27 July in Kampala, Uganda, that they would strive to spend 15 percent of their national budgets on health, but at the end of the day it is about how "effectively and efficiently" you spend the money, not about how much.

The promise to spend 15 percent on health was made in Abuja, Nigeria, in 2001, but health experts like Chikezie Anyanwu, Africa Advocacy Advisor to Save the Children, which works to promote children's rights, were left wondering whether the percentages actually made a difference.

Countries could spend more than 15 percent and still show no real reduction in the deaths of children younger than five, or among women during or after childbirth, as specified in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs = 2015 Målene)) set by the UN.

Rwanda, Liberia and Tanzania are the only three African countries devoting more than 15 percent of their national spending on health, said Anyanwu, citing a 2010 World Health Organization (WHO) report, based on data from 2007. - But they have made insufficient progress in meeting MDGs four and five reducing maternal and child mortality, noted she.

In South Africa, one of the most developed and richest countries in the continent, the infant mortality rate has escalated and the country will probably not achieve the MDG target by the deadline of 2015.

An under-five mortality rate of 67 per 1.000 live births put South Africa at 141 out of 193 countries; in 1990 the rate was 56 deaths per 1.000 live births, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). HIV/AIDS is cited as the leading cause of death among children in South Africa.

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