Accra, Sept 22, GNA - Professor Fred Binka, Dean of the School of Public Health, University of Ghana, has called on African leaders to place premium on research for the attainment of the universal coverage for Africa's health systems.

He said African leaders needed to have a national health research agenda, fund national research and build research capacity. Prof. Binka said "this will enable those countries that have not been able to make a milestone in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to catch up".

He said this at the opening of a three-day regional consultation with decision makers and experts on health systems and research on infectious diseases of poverty in Africa, organized by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) and the European Union.

Countries participating are Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire, Benin, Liberia, Uganda, Zambia, Tanzania, Botswana and Switzerland.

Prof. Binka said: "If we want to achieve universal coverage, our research needs should look at access and delivery, capacity building, product management, evidence uptake and policy as well as patients concerns".

The regional consultation is to generate a coherent message on the challenges and needs of health systems in Africa and facilitate ownership of the first Global Report on Research for Infectious Diseases of Poverty by leaders of health systems in Africa. The inputs collated would contribute to the writing of the chapter on "Health Systems and Universal Coverage".

There are six chapters in the Global Report and the TDR has invited eminent international opinion leaders to use the output of the "Think-tank to synthesize the thematic chapters for the global report." Ghana's former Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa and Prof. Jaime Sepulveda, former Deputy Minister of Health for Mexico, have been assigned to be co-authors of the chapter on "Health Systems and Universal Coverage". The outcome of the consultation would contribute to the framework of the chapter.

Prof. Binka explained that efforts had been made by many countries to meet the MDGs, particularly those relating to health promotion and poverty reduction, but the failing or inadequate health system had been the major obstacle.

He asked African leaders to implement the Abuja Declaration, which stated that governments should set aside two per cent of their national budgets for health expenditure and called on other global initiatives including bi-lateral partners to support the five per cent funding to health sectors in the various countries.

Prof. Binka said "Coverage will reach our set targets if we undertake the research to support our strategies, mobilise human capacity and infrastructure, institutionalize the use of evidence for policy and fund avenues must include national funding to ensure local ownership".

He said the continent had a serious challenge on infectious diseases and the platforms of immunization and maternal and neo-natal health had been identified to achieve the goals of accessing health systems.

Prof. Binka said "Every child should be immunized and every pregnant woman should have a good nutrition to have a healthy baby". Dr George Amofa, Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, who chaired the function, said Africa could not afford to continue to debate on whether to focus on disease specific issues or focus on health systems exclusively with the hope that diseases of poverty in Africa were very relevant.

He called on participants to ensure that the consultation enhances the evidence-base for addressing disease specific conditions of the poor.