Health Ministers and representatives from African countries gathered this week for the annual World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa voiced concern over the impact of COVID-19 and stressed that the pandemic was a poignant reminder for countries to bolster health systems.
The Seventieth session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa – the Organization’s decision-making body – which was held virtually for the first time due to COVID-19 also celebrated Africa’s historic milestone in eradicating wild poliovirus. More than 500 participants, including Ministers of Health and officials from 47 Member States as well as representatives from United Nations agencies, intergovernmental organizations, civil society, academia and development partners attended the meeting.
Since Africa confirmed its first COVID-19 cases in February the continent has recorded more than 1.1 million cases. African governments have reinforced response measures, building on the early steps such as enhanced surveillance, detection and movement restrictions taken even before the virus hit the continent.
“This virus has not only affected our health, but also tested our way of living, societal norms and economies at large. In Africa we quickly felt the impact of the pandemic due to our weak health systems coupled with the highest disease burden in the world,” Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said.
To minimize the impact of the pandemic, Prime Minister Abiy called for improved COVID-19 response coordination, a common voice to ensure fair and equitable access to vaccines, diagnostics and treatment, and stronger health systems and public health emergency preparedness and response.
“COVID-19 has taught as that strong health systems are a matter of national security and survival,” he said.
Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth pointed out that timely and decisive response were critical to his country’s success in bringing down COVID-19 infections in five weeks after the first case was confirmed.
“It is crucial to have an efficient health system at a time when we are experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Prime Minister Jugnauth. “The government continues to invest significantly in the health sector for both present and future generations.”
A WHO progress assessment on the performance of health systems as part of efforts to attain universal health coverage found that Member States in the region have gaps in different capacities, with the most acute seen in poor physical and financial access to services, and low resilience of health systems. The COVID-19 outbreak has underscored the high risk countries face if their populations are unable to access available services, and if the systems are not resilient enough to absorb stress and sustain service provision during a shock event.
“The coronavirus pandemic has proven once again the importance of investing in health systems, enhancing equitable access to care and improving readiness to prevent and control outbreaks,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “Recovering from this pandemic will be incomplete without strong measures to bolster health systems. We must seize the opportunity and make the leap for a better tomorrow.”
The WHO assessment recommends that Members States find ways to increase public funding to develop health systems, explore initiative to boost access to services, review and identify the needed health system investments, set up measures to monitor the performance of health systems at the subnational level and enhance the efficiency of available funding, particularly donor, private and out-of-pocket funds.
Dr Moeti also presented a report on the work of WHO in the African Region covering areas such as universal health coverage, accelerating gains in preventing and controlling diseases, protecting people from health emergencies, promoting health and wellbeing.
“It is not only about what we do, but how we do it, that is important. We remain focused on delivering in ways that are more effective, results-driven and accountable,” said Dr Moeti.
The Regional Committee is the highest decision-making body on health in the region, involving ministers of health from the Member States of the WHO African Region. It meets once a year to review critical health issues affecting the continent and to advise on appropriate strategies to improve health outcomes.
Push for stronger health systems as Africa battles COVID-19
The Crisis and its Effect on Mortgages
The COVID-19 global pandemic has continued to affect many sectors of human life. The reduced economic activities have led to different sectors to risk shutting down. For instance, in the prevailing state of affairs, a mortgage is somewhat of a gamble because the future remains uncertain for many people. The mortgage industry now relies on government interventions to survive.
In the US, the Federal Government intervened by supporting homeowners to avoid foreclosure. This move could have a negative outcome to the mortgage sector. Government involvement is the key to saving the industry. However, if borrowers continue facing financial problems, the industry would still be at risk of total collapse.
President Donald Trump appended his signature to the CARES stimulus bill, which provided 2.2 trillion USD. The bill contains a provision assuring homeowners with mortgages backed by the Federal Government could stop remitting their mortgage payments for up to one year if they are having financial challenges. Because of the new law, some mortgage lenders allowed their borrowers to discontinue payments.
According to housing experts, the borrowers could also face some hardships. For instance, borrowers in the process of applying for leniency may have to start all over again. In other cases, servicers could mistakenly report borrowers as delinquent on their mortgages even though their forbearance application was approved.
Furthermore, the challenges around servicing mortgages could make it difficult for Americans to get mortgages in the future. If stand-alone mortgage companies’ businesses collapse due to the pandemic, there will be a smaller number of options for Americans in the future.
In Canada, banks were instructed to defer mortgage payments for a minimum of six months. As a result, six major players announced that they would offer their clients a flexible way out, albeit on a case-by-case basis.
In a statement released by the Canada Bankers Association, the banks were willing to defer mortgages indefinitely for non-delinquent clients affected by the pandemic. Furthermore, they clarified that the moratorium should not be confused with “mortgage forgiveness” as all interests which would have been part of the postponed payments will be included in the outstanding balance of the mortgage.
However, studies have revealed that many homeowners’ long-term financial capability has not been affected by the pandemic. Potential homeowners are still in the market for new homes in several regions in the country.
In Africa, the situation is not very different in terms of the pandemic’s effects on the mortgage industry. Take Ethiopia, for instance, due to the shortage of housing units even before the pandemic struck, the government (FHC) decided to embark on a national housing project. Reports indicate that most mortgages are expensive, making them out of reach for the common man.
With the financial crisis hitting Ethiopians hard in the current situation, the industry has taken a hit. The government is relying on external financial support to help cushion the various sectors from collapse.
From now on, governments across the world will have to liaise with the mortgage providers to help the industry stay afloat. As economies start to reopen, Banks and non-bank mortgage providers will have to develop innovative ways of keeping the current clients and attracting new ones.
Mussie Mengistu
Name: Mussie Mengistu
Education: BSC, in Hydraulic & Water Resource Engineering
Company name: Ablead Home Décor & Gifts
Title: Owner
Founded in: 2020
What it does: Decorate wood items
HQ: Lebu
Number of employees: 3
Startup Capital: 6,000 Birr
Current capital: 40,000 birr
Reasons for starting the business: Passion for wood crafts
Biggest perk of ownership: Motivation
Biggest strength: Highly motivated employees with amazing talent
Biggest challenging: Lack of necessary machineries
Plan: To create a leading customized interior wood decorative item producer in the country
First career: Management trainee at Hawassa Industrial Zone
Most interested in meeting: None
Most admired person: My sister, Lidya Mengistu
Stress reducer: Praying
Favorite past time: Listening music
Favorite book: Bible
Favorite destination: Australia
Favorite automobile: Mercedes G-Wagon
Loza Abera the crown jewel of Ethiopian football
Ethiopian Loza Abera had an unforgettable debut season in Malta, scoring 30 goals in 14 league matches and a further three in the Super Cup final for her club Birkirkara, champions of the Maltese Women’s First Division League.
In her second stint in European football, the 22-year old hoisted herself to the top of the world, getting noticed by all and sundry.
Football wasn’t such a big sport in Durame, worse still, for women. There weren’t any women’s football teams in the area but for her, she still held on to the dream of becoming a professional footballer.
In 2012, at the age of 14, she joined her first professional football team. She signed for Hawassa City, a team situated about 120-km away from her home in Durame. Her talent was unquestionable as in both seasons she played at Hawassa, she was the team’s top scorer.
With impressive performances, it was only a matter of time before her talent was spotted and a bigger club came in calling. Under the invitation of Coach Asrat Abate, Losa moved to the now defunct Dedebit Ladies where she continued to flourish.
She led the team to the league title in all the four years she was there and finished as the league’s top scorer in each of those four seasons.
In 2018, she brought her stint at Dedebit to an end for a brief stint in Sweden with second tier side Kungsbacka DFF before returning home to sign with Adama City midway through the 2018 season.
Her signing proved to be a masterstroke as she aided Adama to their first ever Ethiopian Women’s Premier League title, scoring 18 goals and finishing as the top scorer despite joining midway through the campaign.
Her performances for Adama earned her a move to Malta where she has simply been unstoppable. And now, the striker hopes she can take a step further up after her contract with Birkirkara ended.
She holds a firm belief that Ethiopian women’s football has lots of potential, especially noting how they would dominate the East African region several years ago. She believes with better exposure and more players joining ranks abroad, the women’s game in the country will improve.
Ethiopia’s last participation after three Women’s Africa Cup of Nations final was in 2012 when Losa was just starting off her career and they didn’t make it past the group stages, losing two and drawing one of their three matches.
While she casts her eyes on the future for success with Lucy, Losa will be calculating her next career move as she looks to continue scaling the heights of women’s football.
(cafonline.com)
