The Regional Non-State Actors (NSA) dialogue was held in Harare yesterday with one of the speakers attributing young people’s limited access to sexual and reproductive health rights to lack of funding.
Presenting at the dialogue Adolf Mavheneke Regional Senoir Programme Officer and Advocacy specialist at SAfAIDS said access to healthcare is a critical development to improve (SADC) citizens health and wellbeing specifically access to HIV testing and Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) services to young people.
“Limited domestic funds, declining aid flows and the absence of regional or global funds to support deployment of response mechanisms is a challenge to health financing in the region ,which is why most (SADC) countries are grappling with unsustainable public debt at the expense of public health services,” he said.
He added that, managing resources to achieve sexual and reproductive health right (SRHR) had not guaranteed achievement for its intended outcomes due to public resource management challenges.
Mavheneke emphasised that the Region cannot progress without industrialisation, calling for positive exploitation of the identified value chains of agro-processing and minerals for the benefit of the health sector.
“Strengthening access to (SRH) services for young people in (SADC) within resource constrained environments in the context of the (RISDP) will give large health benefits for both,” he said.
