New campaign launched in Uganda to track government spending on health

The regional campaign ‘Value Our Health, African voices for better spending on women and children’, which will be launched in April, calls on African governments to:

• Provide more opportunities for citizens to effectively engage in debates on the formulation and implementation of health budgets;
• Provide access to comprehensive, clear, consistent and timely budget information.

In Uganda, Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN) is working with the Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG) to support their engagement with government, CSOs and citizens during the budget consultation period, specifically calling for increased investment in health workers.

CSBAG hosted a pre-budget dialogue on 18 March with over 500 people to ensure that the public’s voice is heard and their priorities incorporated in the national budget. These views will provide evidence to the Government at the parliamentary public budget hearings of the importance Ugandans place on investing in health workers.

Carol Namagembe from CSBAG said: “Health is wealth. Funding health workers is a sound investment for our population and our economy. We demand that the Government values our voice and values our health.”

Aminu Magashi Garba from the AHBN said: “We commend the Ugandan Government for actively seeking the views of Ugandans on its budget. It has been shown that public participation and open budgets can improve the health of its citizens because those budgets will be more influenced by the public’s priorities. African voices are calling for better spending on women and children”

Read the full story, see online coverage of the pre-budget dialogue and launch, and all the excitement on Twitter.

The regional launch of ‘Value Our Health’ will be at the World Bank/IMF 2016 Spring Meetings Civil Society Policy Forum in Washington DC, 12-15 April 2016. Campaign events will be organised simultaneously across Africa, using social, print and broadcast media to attract national, regional and global attention.

AHBN is hosted in Africa by Community Health and Research Initiative (Nigeria) with technical expertise from Options (London).