Diseases cost Africa $2.4 trillion every year, WHO says

diseases are causing a massive financial loss to African countries, with millions of working hours lost in recovery and treatment, a World Health Organization (WHO) report said.

Various illnesses siphon off more than 2.4 trillion international dollars, a hypothetical currency that has same purchasing power parity as the U.S. dollar, from the region's gross domestic product (GDP) value annually.

More than 630 million years of healthy life were lost in 2015, fighting against diseases. An alarming increase in non-communicable diseases has emerged as the most significant drain in productivity, amounting for 37 percent of the disease burden.

Infectious diseases including, AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria resulted in 27 percent productivity loss. Communicable and parasitic diseases, maternal, neonatal and nutrition-related conditions, and injuries also keep a considerable percentage of the region's population bed-ridden for a significant amount of time.

The report titled, A Heavy Burden: The Productivity Cost of Illness in Africa reveals five countries--the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa and the United Republic of Tanzania--accounted for nearly half of the total years lost in healthy life in the region.

Officials suggested a strategic investment in healthcare would save nearly 47 percent of lost productivity, amounting to 796 billion dollars.

Non-communicable and communicable diseases cause massive productivity losses in African countries. /WHO Graph

“Four years into the implementation of countries' efforts towards achieving Universal Health Care (UHC), current average expenditure on health in the Region falls short of this expectation,” the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti said.

In order to ensure UHC in the region, WHO African Region would have to spend, at least 271 dollars per capita per year on health, or 7.5 percent of the region's gross domestic product (GDP).

Ensuring funds for building health infrastructure would require substantial funding.

The low-income countries would need an additional 671 billion dollars or 76 dollars per capita on average until 2030 to attain the health-related UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development estimated.

The report is an effort to show the importance of SDG targets, including universal health coverage, Grace Kabaniha, a health economist with the WHO Regional Office for Africa said.

It would contribute to poverty eradication efforts on a large scale, reduce disparities in lifespan, tackle social exclusion and promote political stability and economic development, Kabaniha added.

(Top Image:Ugandan medical staff disinfect a desk bearing a poster reading ''Ebola'' at the Entebbe International Airport on August 8, 2014. /VCG Photo)