- The borderlands have some of the lowest levels of health, economic and social infrastructure.
- The policies were approved in the 2021 Health Steering Committee Meetings held in Mombasa on Friday.
Igad member states have endorsed five health policies to improve health services for mobile cross-border populations.
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development says this population faces significant challenges in accessing basic healthcare services.
This has a negative effect on the regional economy and undermines the health security for millions of citizens in the border region.
The policies were approved during the 2021 health steering committee meeting held in Mombasa on Friday.
The meeting was attended by Health ministers drawn from Igad member states including Mutahi Kagwe (Kenya), Lia Tedese (Ethiopia), Fowzia Abikar (Somalia), Hanifa Bangirana (Uganda) and the deputy director of Africa Centres for Disease Control Dr Ahmed Ogwell.
The policies adopted during the meeting included the Igad Regional Health Data Sharing and Protection Policy and the Igad Cross Border Health Policy (2021-2030).
Other policies adopted during the meeting are the Igad Regional Maternal Infant and Young Child Nutrition Advocacy Strategy and the Igad Regional Knowledge Management Strategy for Health (2022-2026).
Speaking during the meeting, Igad executive secretary Workneh Gebeyehu said the meeting recognised that the regional integration agenda had implications on health.
He said there is a need to put in place measures that respond to those concerns.
“As Igad, we have always maintained that borderlands are the theatre in which the future of our region will be decided, but at the same time our borderlands have some of the lowest levels of health, economic and social infrastructure,” said Gebeyehu.
He called on all the eight member states to join hands in implementing and delivering on the noble intentions of the policy instruments.
“This will help unlock, catalyse and capitalise on the latent health assets that are already inherent in our populations,” he said.
He further urged Igad member states to come together and have common and regionally recognised health standards that will ease the movement of people and remove non-tariff barriers to their economic growth and prosperity.
Kagwe underscored the need for regional cooperation in combating diseases and pandemics.
“A disease in one country will automatically be a challenge to another. The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us the need to work together as a region,” Kagwe said.
“We need to tackle the disease burden together as one Igad family.”
He stressed on the need to strengthen health workers' capacity to enable the region to take care of itself.