The health sector recorded growth for the eighth consecutive quarters since quarter two of 2020.
The sector posted an accelerated growth of 8.9% in the first quarter of 2022 when compared to a growth of 8.7%, registered in the corresponding quarter of 2021.
This was stated by the Namibia Statistics Agency in its first quarter bulletin.
Following a surge in Covid-19 cases in 2020, the government increased the number of health personnel.
The sustained growth is mainly attributed to the increased numbers of health personnel brought in to combat the spread of the pandemic and meet the increasing demand for health services.
Ease of fiscal consolidation by central government, coupled with the increase in Covid-19 cases reported in Namibia, resulted in high demand for health workers, resulting in improved performance for the health sector and registering a good growth in value added.
In 2015, the health and social work sector estimated a very slow growth of 1.3% in the first quarter of 2015 after recording a strong growth of 45.8%, recorded in the same quarter of 2014.
During the difficult 2020 year, in which Namibia recorded its first Covid-19 positive case in March, the health sector registered a growth of 2.3% in real value added.
This was due to an increase in the number of health workers, which enabled the sector to improve its performance, compared to a decline of 6.5% in 2019.
Ministry commitment
Accordingly, the government of Namibia has since independence made concerted efforts to improve the health and social wellbeing of Namibians through the implementation of various strategic health policies and initiatives.
For this reason, the Ministry of Health and Social Services was established with the mandate to ensure citizens have the rights to fair and reasonable access to public health facilities and services in accordance with Namibian laws.
These rights are further derived from various government policies and legislation with regards to the protection of the health and welfare of Namibians.
The ministry is, therefore, expected to broaden, oversee and regulate public as well as private and non-governmental sectors in the provision of quality health and social services.