The year 2020 has confirmed to the whole world that one of the most important and toughest portfolios to hold in a government is that of a Minister of Health.
In Africa, our health ministers have been at the forefront of the fight against the Corona Virus pandemic and with support from the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, there’s hope of Africans rising from this pandemic, scathed but stronger.
Primary among the roles of a health minister are overseeing the formulation of health policies, providing strategic direction of health delivery services, allocating resources and evaluating the health status of their countries. The COVID19 pandemic has added one more fundamental function to the list. Today, our health ministers have become warlords, assigned to lead various taskforces to fight the coronavirus pandemic in their respective countries.
In all the 54 African countries, health ministries are crucial members of the cabinet. There, they convey health issues of the people to the president and give status updates of health policies and projects.
In the face of this pandemic I decided to research into the professional and academic backgrounds of Africa’s Health Ministers. I discovered that only 36 out of 54 representing 67% of African health ministers have an educational background in health. The rest were appointed because of their political records and association with the powers that be.
It is interesting to note that in the Republic of Seychelles for instance, the President doubles as the health minister.
Another factor of keen interest is the fact that, as it stands, only 14 of Africa’s health ministers are female.
Nobody knows when COVID19 will die down or even if it will at all. While the world gunners its strengths to fight this war, how ready is Africa? How capable are Africa’s Health Ministers?
To read more about health ministers in Africa, I have published their profiles on www.princeakpah.com/2020healthministers
Below is the list of 2020 54 Health Ministers in Africa (27/04/20)
- AbdellatifMekki (Dr.) – Minister of Health, Tunisia
- AbderrahmaneBenbouzid (Dr.) – Minister of Health, Population and Hospital Reform, Algeria
- AbdoulayeSarr – Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Senegal
- Ahmad Ahmad (Dr.) – Minister of Health, Madagascar
- Ahmadou Lamin Samateh (Dr.) – Minister of Health, The Gambia
- Akram Ali Eltom (Dr.) – Ministry of Health, Sudan
- Alpha TejanWurie (Prof.) – Minister of Health and Sanitation, Sierra Leone
- AmnaNurhusein – Minister of Health, Eritrea
- ArlindoNascimento do Rosário (Dr.) – Minister of Health and Social Security, Cape Verde
- Armindo Tiago (Prof. Dr.) – Minister of Health, Mozambique
- ChitaluChilufya (Dr.) – Minister of Health, Zambia
- Daniel Ngamije (Dr.) – Minister of Health, Rwanda
- DjamaElmiOkieh (Dr.) – Minister of Health, Djibouti
- Edgar Neves (Dr.) – Minister of Health, Sao Tome and Principe
- Ehmid Bin Omar – Minister of Health, Libya
- Elizabeth AcueiYor – Minister of Health, South Sudan
- EugèneAouélé Aka (Dr.) – Minister of Health & Public Hygiene, Cote D’Ivoire
- FawziyaAbikar (Dr.) – Minister of Health & Social Care, Somalia
- EteniLongondo (Dr.) – Minister of Public Health, DR Congo
- HalaZayed (Dr.) – Minister of Health and Population, Egypt
- Igance Benjamin Hounkpatin (Dr.) – Minister of Health, Benin
- IlliassouMainassara (Dr.) – Minister of Public Health, Niger
- Jacqueline Lydia Mikolo – Minister of Health and Population, Congo
- JappieMhango – Minister of Health and Population, Malawi
- Danny Faure – Minister of Health, Seychelles
- Kailesh Kumar Singh Jagutpal (Dr.) – Minister of Health and Wellness, Mauritius
- KalumbiShangula (Dr.) – Minister of Health and Social Services, Namibia
- Khalid AitTaleb (Dr.) – Minister of Health, Morocco
- Kwaku Agyemang-Manu – Minister of Health, Ghana
- LemogangKwape (Dr.) – Minister of Health and Wellness, Botswana
- Léonie Claudine Sorgho/Lougue (Dr.) – Minister of Health, Burkina Faso
- LiaTadesseGebremedhin (Dr.) – Minister of Health, Ethiopia
- Lizzie Nkosi – Minister of Health, Eswatini
- LoubYakoutiZaidou – Minister of Health, Comoros
- MahamoudYoussoufKhayal – Minister of Public Health, Chad
- ManaoudaMalachie (Dr.) – Minister of Public Health, Cameroon
- Maria InáciaCóSanhá – Minister of Public Health, Family and Social Cohesion, Guinea Bissau
- Max Limoukou (Dr.) – Minister of Health, Gabon
- Michel Sidibe – Minister of Health and Social Affairs, Mali
- Mohamed NedhirouOuldHamed (Dr.) – Minister of Health, Mauritania
- MoustafaMijiyawa (Dr.) – Minister of Health and Public Hygiene, Togo
- MutahiKagwe – Cabinet Secretary for Health, Kenya
- NkakuKabi – Minister of Health, Lesotho
- Obadiah Moyo (Dr.) – Minister of Health and Child Care, Zimbabwe
- OsagieEhanire (Dr.) – Minister Health, Nigeria
- Pierre Somse (Dr.) – Minister of Health, Central African Republic
- Remy Lamah (Dr. Col.) – Minister of Health and Public Hygiene, Guinea
- Ruth Jane Aceng (Dr.) – Minister of Health, Uganda
- Salomon NguemaOwono – Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Equatorial Guinea
- Silvia Lutucuta (Dr.) – Minister of Health, Angola
- ThadeeNdikumana (Dr.) – Minister of Public Health and Fight against HIV &AIDS, Burundi
- UmmyMwalimu – Minister of Health, Community Development, Gender, Seniors and Children, Tanzania
- Wilhelmina Jallah (Dr.) – Minister of Health, Liberia
- ZweliMkhize (Dr.) – Minister of Health, South Africa
Research and article by Prince Akpah, MD of Avance Media
