The West African Health Sector Unions Network (WAHSUN) on Friday urged the federal government and African leaders to desist from implementing all policies rolled out by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
WAHSUN in a communique at the end of the 24th plenary session themed “Quality Public Health Services: A Vision for West Africa Health Sector Unions Network” made available to THE WHISTLER said, “Hyper-inflation, currency devaluation and economic hardship across the Sub-Region” were the result of IMF and World Bank’s “Suppressive, regressive, and exploitative neo-liberal Economic Policies”.
The communique was jointly signed by WAHSUN Chairperson Comrade Perpetual Ofori-Ampofo and Secretary Comrade Ayegba Ojonugwa.
According to the network, African leaders should, “Bridle their appetites for handouts from the World Banks and IMF with strict conditionalities and develop homegrown solutions that would bring immediate succour to the suffering masses while ensuring that a living wage is quickly negotiated and paid to Workers who are the worst hit by the economic hardship”.
WAHSUN urged tlAfrican leaders to tackle the persisting migration of brain drains in their country and region at large, stating that over two decades after the Abuja declaration on health in 2001 by the African Heads of State, only a few countries have met the 15 per cent national budget benchmark for health.
The network said “The continuous migration of health workers has led to acute shortage of human resource in the health facilities across Africa and considered such as a looming danger that requires a state of emergency.
“The Network, therefore, charge African Governments to go back to the drawing board to urgently reenergize the remaining health workers and make the work environment attractive to quality manpower through improvement on the general working condition; globalization of wages; infrastructural development; and granting of living wages to retain the trained healthcare workers.”