Promoting Sustainable Health Systems in Africa

The African continent faces various challenges and opportunities for improving the sustainability of health systems, as well overall public health through measures of health prevention. How can better law and governance address new and existing health challenges and improve long-term sustainability of health systems? Examples of key challenges and opportunities include: improving equitable access to medicines; sound health system management; maternal and child health; preventing non-communicable diseases (e.g. nutrition, unhealthy diets, smoking, tobacco, alcohol); infectious diseases; environmental health and climate change; mental health; good governance and human rights.

How do existing global and local governance arrangements respond to challenges in resource constrained settings? What is the role of the World Health Organisation (WHO)? What are the government's and other actors’ legal duties and responsibilities to ensure good health? Which opportunities exist to improve sustainability of health systems through interdisciplinary and systems approaches? Learn more about these topics and more by participating in our (joint) international workshop series in Tanzania, land of the Mt Kilimanjaro, Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. This year the workshop series takes place in Arusha, the seat of the African Court of Human and People’s Rights and East African Court of Justice.

This workshop series is taught jointly by interdisciplinary experts from the Groningen Center of Health Law of the University of Groningen and Mzumbe's School of Public Administration and Management (SOPAM) and Faculty of Law. It is designed to offer participants with a comprehensive understanding of the role of law and governance in improving health systems and public health outcomes in African countries. The workshop series will focus on sustainability of health systems and on preventive approaches rather than mere treatment of disease, and include a strong focus on the right to health.

Over the course of five days, academics and (inter)governmental experts will introduce participants to key themes,  such as key challenges in African health systems, including health worker migration, unequitable access to medicines, or lessons from the COVID pandemic for infectious disease management; the role of the WHO, international guidelines and right to health – and their translation into local contexts and resource constraint settings; and the need for interdisciplinary approaches to health governance, in light of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Through various interactive lectures and hands-on group assignments, participants will delve deeper into various themes and topics of each day (see below). We also plan to pay a visit to the African Court of Human and People’s Rights.

Overall, participants in this workshop series will gain insights into recent developments in key global health law and governance arrangements, such as the WHO, international human rights treaties, and Pandemic Treaty; as well as the challenges and opportunities of building sustainable health systems in African domestic contexts, keeping in mind structural challenges such as resources, or impacts of climate change. On Thursday afternoon we will offer several (parallel) skills-development workshops, e.g. writing MA or PhD research proposals in the area of health; human rights and legal skills; interdisciplinary research and policy design; career advice and CV writing. The offer may depend on the background and interests of the participant group.

In addition to opportunities for social interaction throughout the week, participants can sign up for the optional full day group visit on Friday, to the amazing Ngorongoro Crater and Conservation Area, the UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the northern part of Tanzania. This park is renowned for the Ngorongoro Crater, the world's largest inactive, intact, and unfilled volcanic caldera. The Ngorongoro park is also filled with many other attractive scenic features such as Wildlife, Maasai Culture, the Olduvai Gorge and beautiful landscapes. The tour promises an enriching experience filled with adventure, culture, education, and inspiration. The staff of the programme will join the participants on this social outing.

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