Participants noted that Africa’s per capita spending on health was the lowest (amid escalating health services costs) worldwide, and that expenditure on maternal and child health were grossly inadequate. Majority of the countries have not met the African Heads of State and
Government commitment to allocate at least 15% of annual national budgets to health sectors. For a sizeable number of countries, the total health spending is less than the bare minimum of US$34 per person per year recommended by the WHO Commission for Macroeconomics and Health. In 2007 almost 30% of the total health expenditure came from governments, 50% from
private sources (of which 71% was from out-of-pocket payments by households) and 20% from donors [3]. The participants expressed concern that most donor funds were still unpredictable and not aligned with national health priorities or harmonized with national systems.