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The rapid growth in the population of the world, but most especially on the African continent requires immediate, critical thinking on ways to ensure the provision of quality, affordable and accessible primary healthcare, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has observed.

Data from health service providers, which shows a continent witnessing the double burden of fighting both communicable and non-communicable diseases in a resource-constrained environment has made the gravity of the situation even more pronounced, and calls for urgent action.

The Vice President gave the call to action when he addressed the 22nd Annual Conference of the Association Of Medical Councils Of Africa (AMCOA) at Senchi near Akosombo on Wednesday 25th July, 2018. The meeting is being attended by medical and dental councils from 22 African countries including Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Zambia and Liberia.

“When you look at the way forward, and look a little bit into the future it gets a little scary when you think that Africa’s population growth is increasing, even though fertility rates have declined. By 2050, Africa will be the largest continent in terms of population in the world. We will have a quarter of the world's population. Currently Africa has the youngest population in the world; 60% of Africa's population is below 25” Vice President Bawumia indicated.

He continued, “So we really need to think very carefully about how to emphasise the whole issue of primary health care, because if you don’t, fundamentally it becomes very difficult in terms of the economic constraints to deliver health care. But if we focus on primary health care, as we have been told by all of you to do, then I think we will have a better handle on the higher population that our respective countries have to deal with in the not-too-distant future. 2050 is about 32 years away. It is not that far and with medical advances I’m sure most of us in this room may be alive to see 2050.”


This expected population increase, with its attendant medical, educational and other needs, will also have to be met with the limited resources, including human, available, Vice President Bawumia noted.

“We have to see how we can improve our health care systems. As Prof Kwame Nyame (Chairman, Ghana Medical and Dental Council) has said, we need about 1.3 million health professionals in Africa. That is huge. Have we put in place the necessary infrastructure to be able to train this quantum, and are we putting in place the necessary resources to be able to get this quantum of health professionals trained?”