Annual meeting of the Swedish Medical Association

Speaking today at the annual meeting of the Swedish Medical Association in Stockholm, Dr. Margaret Mungherera, President of the World Medical Association, said:

‘The world is a global village. All countries are facing financial pressures. In African countries health systems continue to be weak despite the substantial sums of funds from both domestic and additional funding from external donors. It is estimated that 20-40 per cent of this funding has been wasted. The causes include weak leadership and poor governance.

‘National Medical Associations in African countries have a responsibility to advocate for interventions aimed at addressing the weak leadership and poor governance within the health sector and to lobby their governments for more funding for the health sector. NMAs in donor countries also have responsibilities to lobby for more resources for poor countries and also to appeal to their governments to ensure that the donations are used where they are needed most and are also used efficiently.’