IPNews-Monrovia – Liberia: The Vice President of the Republic of Liberia, Chief Dr Jewel Howard-Taylor has identified finance, expertise and constituency as the three fundamental pillars for achieving universal health coverage, which considers access to affordable healthcare for people across the world.
VP Howard-Taylor according to a dispatch from Germany has also applauded the African Governments of the adoption of the Abuja Declaration which provides for the allocation of 17% of each African nation’s national budget to the health sector.
VP Howard-Taylor was speaking recently when she addressed a High level panel at the 11th World Health Summit, held in Berlin, Germany from October 27th to 29th, 2019.
The Liberian Vice President further accentuated the need to implement the Abuja Declaration and ensure the African governments allocate more finances to address the existential issues of health care.
Speaking on the theme “Health as a Political Choice,” the first female Vice President of Liberia asserted that Health is not a privilege for a few, but a right for everyone.
She also argued that preventive measures are better than curative measures.
Madam Vice President posited that Women empowerment is key to achieving universal health coverage, noting that that when women are empowered, they provide basic needs for their children to include health care and education which are necessary for livelihood.
The Vice President shared the platform with Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr. Luis Henrique Mandetta, Minister of Health of Brazil, Dr. Keizo Takemi, former Minister of Health of Japan, amongst others.
On the side lines of the summit, the first female Vice President of Liberia held discussions with Dr. Detlev Gaten, founder of the World Health Summit.
The meeting centered on the mobilization of funds for research purposes in Liberia and the strengthening of network of academic institutions in the area of Healthcare.
Prof. Detlev Ganten is a specialist in pharmacology and molecular medicine. He is one of the world’s leading scientists in the field of hypertension.
He founded the World Health Summit in 2009 and served as CEO of the Charite Universitatsmedicin Berlin ( it is one of Europe’s largest university hospitals).
It was ranked as the best over 1,000 hospitals in Germany between 2012 to 2019. According to US Network, Charite is the 5th best hospital in the world.
More than half of all Germany Nobel peace prize winners in the sciences worked at Charite and the hospital has treated several political leaders and distinguished personalities across the world.
He is the current Chairman of the Board of Charite Foundation since 2005 ( The Charite Foundation is a German Research Foundation which provides approximately 1.5 billion EUR in funding every year).
The assistance is done through various programs and funding streams but specifically to promote research in all areas.
