Dear reader,
The healthcare sector in Africa is regarded globally as one of the weakest. Very few countries in the continent meet the minimum standards of basic healthcare per head expenditure of US$34 to US$40 a year set by the World Health Organization (WHO). Most of the countries lack the primary infrastructure to deliver healthcare and are challenged by a severe shortage of resources, hospitals, trained medical personnel, et al.
With the expansion of the African economies coupled with an increase in demographic size, which is set to touch 1.7 billion by 2050, the demand for quality healthcare is bound to go up. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) estimates that over the next decade, US$25-US$30 billion in new investments are needed to meet the continent’s healthcare demand. In the next decade, Africa will require more than half a million additional hospital beds, better production facilities and distribution/retail systems for pharmaceuticals and medical supplies and about 90,000 physicians, 500,000 nurses, and 300,000 community health workers.
This offers a tremendous opportunity for Indian players in the healthcare sector including hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, infrastructure companies, medical education providers, etc.
This special supplement on the healthcare sector in Africa, the first in a series of many such reports in the pipeline is an effort to present our esteemed readers and stakeholders a snapshot on the scope and prospects for the Indian companies in the sector to participate in the evolving healthcare sector in the continent to gain the first mover advantage.
Sheila Sudhakaran
