Political Economy Analysis Reveals Challenges Facing Primary Health Care in Eastern and Southern Africa
Investments in health management capacity are important, but improving the environment in which managers operate is equally critical to achieving Sustainable Development Goal targets for health. A political economy analysis conducted in Kenya, Malawi, and Uganda revealed that while decentralization should improve PHC, it has been accompanied by thick bureaucracy, underfunded budgets, weak accountability, and insufficient public administration capacity. The emergence of COVID-19 has highlighted these challenges and underscored the need to address the disconnection between the vision for decentralization and the reality of health managers mired in unhelpful processes and politics.
Recent Posts
African Pharmacogenomic Integration Enhancing Essential Medicine Prescribing in Africa
African Pharmacogenomic Integration has become an urgent policy priority, with evidence showing that more than 10 percent of essential medicines across Africa require genetically guided prescribing to prevent harm and improve outcomes in diverse populations. Current dosage guidelines for HIV, ...
Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Affordability as a Key to South Africa’s Local Production Goals
Pharmaceutical manufacturing affordability remains the decisive factor in South Africa’s efforts to build domestic capacity for essential medicines and vaccines. Government, industry and research leaders who met at the TIPS Development Dialogue on 17 June made clear that economic barriers to acce...
Shingles Vaccine Affordability and Its Impact on Public Health in South Africa
Shingles vaccine affordability remains a pressing concern as the recombinant zoster vaccine launches in South Africa. This vaccine delivers substantially higher efficacy and longer protection against herpes zoster and post-herpetic neuralgia than the live attenuated version withdrawn in 2024, yet...