AFRICA - British Aid agency launches campaign to abolish health taxes

Rome (Agenzia Fides) - The life of 285 thousand children in Africa could be saved every year if taxes on healthcare were lifted according to a British aid agency “Save the Children”.
Without these taxes, which lead families to live in extreme poverty, thousands of other children could lead healthier lives.
Save the Children has appealed to world leaders to sustain the people of some African countries dispensing them from healthcare taxes.
These taxes deprive poor people from access to basic medical care and lead them to accumulate debts. In Sierra Leone, a cycle of therapy for a child with malaria costs 8,000 Leones, a sum which a man would take 14 days to earn .
Therefore Save the Children is deeply committed to promoting the abolition of healthcare taxes for all and sustaining basis services for mothers and their children.
The elimination of these taxes is only the first step, the main task is to build or rebuild collapsed healthcare systems to guarantee all children and families in Africa fee access to basic health care. (AP) (3/6/2006 Agenzia Fides; Righe:21; Parole:212