APHA underscored the fact that investment in health
was arguably the most crucial investment any government could make, since health was a fundamental
human right, [12] and a long and healthy life was a prerequisite for human capital development, high economic
productivity and sustainable economic development
[13,14]. Cognisant of the high disease burden and the
importance of investing in health, African Heads of
State and Government in 2001 committed in Abuja to
allocate at least 15% of their countries’ annual government budgets to the health sector [15]. By the end of
2007, only 3 countries (Liberia, Rwanda and Tanzania)
had fulfilled the Abuja commitment and only 30 out of
53 countries were allocating at least US$34 per person
per year to health [3] as recommended by the WHO
Commission for Macroeconomics and Health [16].