The Big Picture: Healthcare challenges in Africa

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Africa is confronting the world's most dramatic public health crisis, according to the World Health Organization.

Some of the fundamental healthcare challenges across the continent include: access to healthcare, inadequate funding by governments, lack of basic healthcare facilities, and a lack of trained healthcare workers.

Despite the challenges, more and more people are accessing healthcare, making the application of technology in healthcare increasingly significant.

Technology is a route to providing people in remote areas access to better healthcare. But perhaps even more important, easier access to data helps both doctors and policymakers make better-informed decisions about how to continue to improve the system.

So while a lot still needs to be done, and experts agree it will take a monumental effort before the continent’s healthcare systems are up to scratch, it is heading in the right direction.

With a population of about 1.2 billion people living in 54 countries, the African continent accounts for 12 percent of the world’s population.

According to a survey in 2016 by Afrobarometer conducted across Africa, health is ranked as the second most important national issue, outranked only by unemployment.