The Civil Society Advocacy Forum (Csaf) says its analysis of health sector proposals outlined in the manifestos of various political parties has revealed substantial gaps in understanding and commitment to addressing specific needs of the health sector.
Csaf, a grouping of more than 80 organisations actively working on health-related advocacy, conducted an analysis of the health sector proposals ahead of the September 16 General Election.
A statement on the analysis notes that many political parties and independent candidates lack a comprehensive understanding of the current challenges facing the health sector in the context of the prevailing global funding and priorities.
What's in the manifestos?
From the published manifestos this far, the People's Party (PP) led by former president Joyce Banda proposes to implement new health financing strategies such as levies on alcohol and tobacco products to augment national budgetary allocations.
It also plans to establish a national health fund to manage the alternative health finances, improve health service delivery and explore the feasibility of introducing a compulsory national health insurance scheme.
On its part, UTM Party does not outline specific sources of funds, but says its regime would provide free essential services at all public facilities, hire more nurses, midwives, and doctors, fix drug supply systems and expand rural clinics.
The erstwhile governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) says it will "introduce health fund and universal health coverage to support health financing".
United Democratic Front (UDF), whose manifesto was launched in Blantyre yesterday, argues that Malawi's budgetary allocation is one of the most generous in the region.
"We must have a more honest and detailed discussion about health financing that takes a more comprehensive view of the whole sector," it says.
On its part, the governing Malawi Congress Party (MCP) says it will create a National Health Services Fund (NHSF).
"The NHSF shall be capitalized through levies on alcohol, cigarettes, phone calls, financial services and fuel," it says.
Csaf concerns
Donor contributions have consistently constituted over 50 percent of the total funding for the health sector, but recent cuts in donor aid have significantly impacted this sector.
Csaf argues that this has exacerbated existing challenges such as inadequate access to essential services, increased vulnerability among marginalised populations, and a decline in the quality of healthcare services.
Reads Csaf statement: "While a few parties have mentioned strategies to finance the health sector in their manifestos, most have not clearly explained plans on how they will domestically mobilise for the health sector.
"Political Parties and independent candidates are failing to recognise health as part of human capital development as such they are not prioritizing or mentioning the allocations to be made to the health sector."
Further, it argues that some parties are operating within the traditional comfort zone that has influenced donor dependence over the years, challenging their ability to propose innovative strategies for a turnaround in health financing.
In a separate interview, Csaf chairperson Gift Trapence called on political parties and independent candidates to provide clear strategies on how their potential administration would locally generate resources to finance the health sector.
He said: "The country must prioritise generating domestic resources to fund the health sector rather than heavily relying on external support."
Last month, the United Kingdom announced a decision to cut foreign aid to sectors such as health to 11 countries, including Malawi, putting the country at risk as funding to the area is largely dependent on donors.
The decision came at a time Malawi is yet to recover from the K400 billion aid cut by the United States Agency for International Development.
Government requires $31.2 billion (K54.1 trillion) to implement the Health Sector Strategic Plan III (HSSP III), which aims to build strong and holistic health systems from to 2030.