GBCHealth, Aliko Dangote Foundation host Africa Business Health Forum

11 Jan 2019
Financial Nigeria

Summary

The ABHF aims to strengthen partnerships and foster opportunities for the private sector to contribute towards boosting national health systems in Africa.

Aliko Dangote, Chairman, Aliko Dangote Foundation

The GBCHealth, a private sector coalition focused on improving health outcomes, together with Aliko Dangote Foundation and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) are set to host the maiden edition of the Africa Business Health Forum (ABHF).

The forum, which will take place on February 12 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, aims to strengthen partnerships, promote an ongoing dialogue between African private and public sectors, and foster opportunities for the private sector to contribute towards strengthening national health systems on the continent.

The 2019 ABHF will hold on the margins of the 32nd African Union Summit, according to a statement released on Thursday. It will bring together African leaders, ministers, medical and health professionals, CEOs, philanthropists and representatives from the UN and AU. About 300 invite-only delegates are expected to be at the forum to explore opportunities for catalysing economic growth in Africa, through business partnerships to invest in the health sector.

“From a business standpoint, we are beginning to see the opportunities that could be created by focusing on improving and investing in health,” said Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, a financer and Co-chair of GBCHealth. “There is also a need to close the gap on the inequality of life in Africa from a healthcare standpoint.”

According to a statement released by the ABHF, the forum will culminate in the launch of the African Business Coalition for Health (ABC Health). This coalition will mobilize a core group of private sector champions through a coordinated platform to advance health outcomes and shape health systems across Africa.

ABC Health will serve as the regional platform to unlock synergies that will contribute more directly to a healthy and prosperous Africa, enabled by collaboration and business partnerships.

“The best way to move Africa forward is for businesses to step up in health and take bold action,” said Aliko Dangote, Chairman of Aliko Dangote Foundation. “We must work together, across industries and with governments and communities, to foster innovation and drive more strategic investments that benefit us collectively.”

Investing in African health systems, according to the statement, is an opportunity to accelerate economic development and growth, contribute to saving lives, prevent life-long disabilities and move the continent closer to achieving the UN’s sustainable development goals and AU’s Agenda 2063.

“The Commission will play a role in the design and implementation of policy frameworks around financing of healthcare through public-private partnerships and the private sector,” said Vera Songwe, Executive Secretary of the ECA. “Building on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, this will also encourage regional trans-boundary health investments especially in the pharmaceutical sector.”


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