A review of national health policies in seven countries in the WHO African Region

This paper proposes an analytical framework for assessing compliance of national health policies with WHO/AFRO guidelines. Data for this study was obtained from the national health policies of Botswana, Eritrea, Liberia, Namibia, Swaziland, Gambia, and Uganda. National health policies of seven of the 19 Anglophone countries of the WHO African region were selected for review using simple random sampling method. These include: Botswana, Eritrea, Liberia, Namibia, Swaziland, Gambia, and Uganda. An analytical framework derived from WHO/AFRO guidelines for developing national health policies and plans was used in the review. It identifies components which are pertinent for appropriate national health policy formulation. It appears that aspects related to policy content are well addressed. In relation to the process, there is need for improving the mapping of stakeholders and specifying their roles and aspects of collaboration; and the implications for meeting broad service and impact targets. Development of health policies needs to focus on all aspects of the analytical framework with emphasis on improving the articulation for mapping out stakeholders and specifying their roles and aspects of collaboration; and the implications for meeting broad service and impact targets.