Funding innovative and inclusive healthcare in Africa

Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests,

It is a great pleasure and honour to be with you.

When I became a Minister for Development Cooperation in 2007 my first trip was a shocking one: I went to Mozambique where I lived in the beginning of the 1990’s. Mozambique had made tremendous progress since the end of the gruesome Civil War when I worked in Maputo. Mozambique is currently seen as a good example of post-conflict reconstruction. Peace, jobs, economic development are making great progress. But when I came to Nampula province in the North I was shocked. The health care system was still in disarray. No medicine, not even for malaria. Mozambique was a good and a tragic example of so many women dying when giving birth. I made one thing sure: this would be an area of my fullest attention and priorities.

I am therefore very pleased to be with you today, and to have the opportunity to exchange views with you on Healthcare Systems in Africa, the important theme of this conference. I find the conference's sub-heading – Mobilising the private sector to develop a sustainable healthcare economy in Africa – particularly appealing. Because I am convinced that sustainable development in Africa will be difficult to achieve without public-private partnerships. At the same time, we must continue to hold government authorities responsible for ensuring that people have access to decent, affordable care services. That is why I would go a step further and say that broad coalitions are what make the difference.

But before I discuss this subject in more depth, I would like to take a look at the bigger picture first. >>read complete speech>>.

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