The East, Central and Southern African Health Community (ECSA HC) is a regional intergovernmental health organization that was established to foster and promote regional cooperation in health among member states. The Member states of the ECSA Health Community currently include Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Since its establishment in 1974, ECSA Health Community has been working with countries and partners to raise the standard of health for the people of the region by promoting efficiency and effectiveness of health services through cooperation, collaboration, research, capacity building, policy development and advocacy.
The organization is governed in terms of its Convention through five main bodies namely;
- The Health Ministers Conference (HMC) is the highest governing body which sets health policy for the region and defines regional health priorities;
- The Advisory Committee functions as the Management Board and provides administrative oversight to the organization.
- The Directors’ Joint Consultative Committee (DJCC) is the highest technical committee that advises the Conference of Health Ministers on health policy and technical matters. It is composed of senior officials from Ministries of Health and from Health Training and Research institutions of the member countries.
- Programme Experts’ Committees are technical committees that draw on expertise from member states programme managers and researchers, external advisors, professional associates and consultants from the region and beyond. Their input feeds into the Secretariat’s technical programmes and the decisions of the DJCC and the Advisory Committee.
- The Secretariat is responsible for the implementation of the ECSA Health Community’s programmes and reporting to the Health Ministers Conference, through the Advisory Committee.
In an effort to advance its mandate in the region, ECSA-HC continues to collaborate with several international organizations including regional economic communities. To date, formal partnerships (MOUs) have been established with the East African Community (EAC), West African Health Organization (WAHO), African Union CDC, University of York and the Kids Operating Room. Such arrangements would ensure that ECSA-HC continues to focus on the implementation of its comparative advantage whilst at the same time complement ongoing regional activities through cooperation, in order to avoid duplication.
There are also various initiatives in place with several organizations. For instance, over the years, ECSA-HC has collaborated with the African Union Commission (AUC) in a number of areas including implementation of Africa Regional Nutrition Strategy 2015 – 2025, strengthening of regional monitoring and evaluation, and joint participation in regional forums aimed at improving the delivery of healthcare services. Further, a draft MOU with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is currently under review and some of the initial key areas of collaboration and engagement that were identified including; participation of SADC Secretariat in Communities of Practice of the Southern African Tuberculosis and Health Systems Strengthening (SATBHSS) Project, Sharing of periodic updates on regional programmes and collaboration in regional Operational Research and health financing initiatives.
One of the key areas in which ECSA-HC works is capacity building of member states and partner institutions through training, training of trainers, team-based training, leadership training, curriculum review and development, learning and improvement. This is mainly implemented through the ECSA College of Health Sciences which is an umbrella College facilitating the functions of the autonomous constituent East Central and Southern Africa Professional Colleges. The College of Health Sciences has five constituent colleges which are East Central and Southern Africa College of Nurses (ECSACON), College of Surgeons of East Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA), College of Anaesthesiologists of East Central and Southern Africa (CANECSA), College of Pathologists of East, Central and Southern Africa (COPECSA) and the East, Central and Southern Africa College of Obstetricians and Gynecologist (ECSACOG). Other health professional bodies that are in the process of establishment include the College of Ophthalmology for East, Central and Southern Africa (COECSA) and the East, Central and Southern Africa College of Public Health (ECSA-COPH).
Published: March 2021