Remarks by African Union Commission Chairperson, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma to the AU Rollback Malaria High-Level Breakfast Session

on Health in the Broader Development and Post-2015 Agenda
at the margins of the 4th EU-Africa Summit
Thursday, 3 April 2014, Brussels

Programme Directors
Excellencies, Heads of States and Government
Secretary General Ban Kim Moon
Ministers, Officials, Ladies and Gentlemen
Health is a good indicator of what is happening in a country, and what is happening in development.
Firstly, if you are healthy, it meant you had a good nutrition. It determines the state of your health and immune system. That is why agriculture and food security are critical developmental priorities.
Secondly, clean water is critical to health. More children die from diarrheal diseases because they do not have access to clean water and there are places where adults still die of typhoid and other water-born diseases. Clean water (and sanitation) is therefore critical to health.
Of course there is energy as well, if you inhale smoke all your life, it will impact on your lungs and general wellbeing. I grew up in rural areas without electricity. Every morning, after studying all night by kerosene lamps, I woke up with soot in my nose. That is not good for your health. Thus health in the broader sense also means clean energy. And also not smoking tobacco, or inhaling it second-hand.
You also have to have access to health services. The UNSG talked about women dying whilst giving birth, because they do not have access to health services. Even when there are clinics, if the roads to the clinic are bad or non-existent, women die on their way to the clinic. Transport infrastructure is therefore also important.
Health therefore encompasses every aspect of development.
Preventing diseases are much better than trying to cure them. Preventing malaria is more cost-effective than trying to treat someone that already contracted malaria, and it can be fatal.
As we therefore look at the post-2015 Development agenda, in its comprehensive nature, health is a fulcrum around which we look at development.
In conclusion, a special thanks to our sister, Dr. Fatoumata Nafo-Traoréwho is very insistent on making sure that the Roll Back Malaria is on the agenda of every event, with the support of the UN Secretary General and her team, and our Goodwill Ambassador, Ms. Yvonne Chaka Chaka.
Thank you.