Africa loses over 50% of health funds through fraud, wastage – Jean Kaseya

The Director-General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Dr Jean Kaseya, has raised concerns over what he describes as significant wastage of resources within Africa's health systems, insisting that the continent's challenge is not a lack of funding but poor management.

According to him, more than half of available resources are lost through practices including fraud, weak planning processes and the payment of salaries to non-existent workers, limiting the ability of countries to adequately finance healthcare delivery.

Speaking at the African Union (AU) summit on Tuesday, July 21, themed “Advancing Justice, Equity and Universal Health Coverage: Ending AIDS, TB, Improving Maternal Health, Addressing Endemic Non-Communicable and Neglected Tropical Diseases and Conditions in Africa,” Dr Kaseya called for stronger leadership and accountability in managing health resources.

He argued that addressing inefficiencies within health systems would help African countries improve healthcare financing without relying excessively on external support from development partners.

“We are talking about sustainable health financing. The main issue we are facing is we are wasting resources. It's not lack of resources, it's wastage of resources,” Dr Kaseya said.

He explained that over 50% of health funds are lost due to fraud, inappropriate planning processes and the existence of ghost workers, citing cases where some countries have discovered large numbers of non-existent employees on government payrolls.

“How can you provide sufficient funds in your system if you have ghost workers? Do we need partners to fix that? No, we just need willingness. We just need leadership to fix all of these problems,” he added.

Dr Kaseya maintained that Africa has the resources needed to strengthen its health systems but must first address internal weaknesses that undermine effective healthcare financing.

“This is why I'm one of the few people who say Africa doesn't lack resources,” he stated, urging governments to prioritise accountability, transparency and efficient management of funds to achieve sustainable health financing across the continent.

— CitiNewsRoom