Yemisi Izuora
In 2021, Africa being the continent that hosts the 4th largest number
of global international migrants pegged at 25 million people in 2017
migrating within and outside the region, it must wake up to the
reality of evolving a sustainable health care solution to the
rampaging Covid-19 to save her citizens and guarantee the future of
young population to further reap the fortunes of migration, said
Ajibola Abayomi, the President, Journalists International Forum For
Migration, JIFORM in a new year message.
With 19 of the world’s 20 youngest countries in Africa, the data from the United Nations’ World Population Prospects in 2019 confirmed
Africa’s youthful population with Niger tipped to have median age of just 15.2-years-old.
The West African country has the world’s highest birth rate, with
every woman having an average of 7.2 children over the course of her lifetime. As a result, the country’s population is set to nearly
triple by 2050 while Mali and Chad round out the top three, with median ages of 16.3 and 16.6, respectively.
“We must not risk the life of the people. There is a plant as solution
to Covid-19 and other health challenges in the African bush, but where
are the brains to tap to the resources? Over 80% of the herbal roots
being used for orthodox drugs are from Africa, ironically less than 2%
profit returns to the continent. Governments are not encouraging the right investment to bring about research. With all the natural
resources, when would Africa have its own health care institute?
To realize the health objective, Ajibola said time has come for the
African Union (AU) under the new leadership of President Felix Tshisekedi of DR Congo, the Chairperson for AU for 2021 to serve as
catalyst to propel African leaders to make the New Year a season of solution by funding formidable health research institute.
Records shows over 19 million people migrate between the African
countries contributing to the surge in global 272 million migrants
enhancing integration, thus their wellbeing is germane to the economic
progression of the continent.
JIFORM, an international migration media body with headquarter in
Lagos, Nigeria said investment in the health sector was long overdue
to replace the over reliance on the support and dictates from the
Western world and the other continents.
“It is not enough to claim that Artemisia annua, a plant used to
develop Covid-19 Organics by Madagascar grows in Nigeria and other African countries, what did those nations do with it? The AU in 2020 should had upgraded the Madagascar effort to produce a cure for covid-19 with a team of medical experts as solution for all if one is
available.
“This is an indication that real investment is needed in the health
sector, notwithstanding, Africa cannot fold arms and wait to reap from the benefits of brainstorming leading to discoveries of various
coronavirus vaccines being launched in China, Europe, Britain,
Argentina and elsewhere without attempting home solution.
“In as much as the continent is lucky to have escaped the baseless
prediction by likes of Bill Gate and others that over three million
Africans would die before 2020 from Covid-19 infections, yet we must
know that the danger is not completely averted, hunger kills more than
any disease as remittance by migrants has been predicted by the UN to
shrink by 14% in 2021 compared to 2019.
“Remittance flows to low and middle-income countries (LMICs) were
projected to fall by 7 percent, to $508 billion in 2020, followed by a
further decline of 7.5 percent, to $470 billion in 2021. The foremost
factors driving the decline in remittance.