African countries should take the initiative themselves if there are to strengthen the capacity of their primary health care. This could be through committing a small part of their annual fiscal expenditure towards it.
In a report issued from London on 26 March 2015 reviewed by Reuters, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has called on developing countries on Thursday to invest per person per year until 2030 to tackle 17 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and improve the health and well-being of more than 1.5 billion people.
Forecasting a total of $34bn needed to fight NTDs for the next 16 years, the WHO said governments whose people are blinded, disfigured and killed by such diseases should recognise the great potential human and economic return on tackling them.
The report quotes WHO director-general Margaret Chan commenting: “Increased investments by national governments can alleviate human misery, distribute economic gains more evenly and free masses of people long trapped in poverty,” WHO director-general Margaret Chan said in a report.
NTDs such as river blindness, rabies, guinea worm and elephantiasis cause disfigurement, disability and death among millions of poor people in developing countries.
