Design & Health Africa 2011 Background and Objectives

The Sunyani Hospital in Ghana,
designed by Nightingale Associates

Eleven people cent of the world’s population inhabit sub-Saharan Africa, yet the continent carries 24% of the disease burden in both human and financial costs, whilst benefiting from less than 1% of global health expenditure¹.

At the same time, almost 50% of the world’s deaths of children under the age of five occur in Africa, and only a few countries in the region are able to spend the $34–$40 per person per year that WHO identifies as the minimum necessary to meet a population’s basic health care needs².

In recent times, improved political and macroeconomic stability and microeconomic reforms, combined with rising oil prices, reduced government debt and a flourishing private sector have helped to create an economic surge that has seen GDP in Africa rise by 4.9% on average every year through to 2008.³

Improving economic performance, greater personal wealth and in many countries the establishment or prospect of national health insurance coverage is starting to place a great strain on the region’s health infrastructure, facilities and the skilled workforce needed to provide the minimal levels of healthcare services and products needed.

Over the next decade, it is estimated by the International Finance Corporation that $25-$30 billion of new investment will be needed in health care assets, including hospitals and clinics to meet the growing demands of the healthcare market in Sub-Sahran Africa, which is set to double by 2016, rising to $35 billion.

In a globalised and interdependent world, the continuous improvement of the quality of life and wellbeing of all African citizens will be founded on the recognition that a healthy population is the foundation for social development and economic growth.

Supporting healing, recovery and nursing care at Sunyani Hospital in Ghana

Today’s rapid movement of populations living in ever larger, multi-cultural, urban environments, combined with the evolution of the knowledge society means that the world we live in today is one with few boundaries. In the 21st Century, the health of Africa and its people’s improving health status is dependent on recognition of its international co-existence.

In 1997, the World Health Organization identified that the health “arena”, including priority settings and frequently used spaces such as the workplace, schools, hospitals, correctional institutions, commercial offices, public spaces within our towns and cities, and indeed our homes, should be at the centre of health promotion activities in the 21st century.

Using the environment as a strategic tool is one of the most cost-effective and enduring approaches to improving public health, but requires new perspectives that considers wellness factors to encourage innovative design solutions.

Design objectives for enhancing human health must facilitate an active lifestyle, enable the successful management of physical, psychological and emotional stress and support mental and cognitive processing of information by stimuli in a variety of designed environments. Central to this cause is the development of a scientific research base, which illustrates and explores the relationship between human health and the environment, and even more vitally, creates a case for the rigorous application of this knowledge in professional practice.

Well-designed healthcare facilities around the world are making a critical contribution to the process of healing and rehabilitation. However, a broader, more holistic perspective demonstrates that health processes are continuously operating in all types of built and physical environments where individuals spend their daily lives.

The International Academy for Design and Health believes that human health is significantly related to the designed environment, and international research demonstrates how the quality of our public and private spaces is closely linked to levels of health, crime, poverty and our quality of life. The level of design quality in the built environment is also critical to the sustainable development of our neighborhoods, towns and cities.

According to Lord Nigel Crisp’s new book, Turning the World Upside Down: The search for global health in the 21st Century, the richer countries import many health workers from poorer countries, whilst at the same time exporting their ideas and ideologies about health. It is an unfair exchange. What would it be like, asks Lord Crisp , if it were the other way round – and poorer countries imported health workers from richer ones and exported their ideas and experience about health?

Design and Health Africa 2011 is an International Symposium set to explore how richer countries can learn from poorer ones and suggests that, instead of talking of international development – where the rich help the poor – we should think in terms of co-development, each learning from the other. By bringing together interdisciplinary world experts to share their knowledge to create a new vision for health in Africa, based on our interdependence, our desire for independence and on our rights and accountabilities as citizens of the world.

Economic Facts and Figures³
• Africa’s collective GDP in 2008 was $1.6 trillion, but is expected to rise to $2.6 trillion by 2020.
• Africa’s combined consumer spending of $860 billion in 2008 will rise to $1.4 trillion by 2020
• In 2008, 52 African cities have more than one million people; by 2030, more 50% of Africans will live in cities.
• By 2040, 1.1 billion Africans will be of working age

1. World Health Organisation. 2006 World Health Report
2. World Health Organisation. Spending on health: A global overview. Fact sheet
3. Mckinsey Global Institute. Lions on the move: The progress and potential of African Economies. June 2010
4. International Finance Corporation. The Business of Health in Africa

Objectives of the symposium
A ‘salutogenic approach’ to health infrastructure development embedded at the core of a preventative care strategy changes the focus from risk factors and the treatment of disease to a more holistic understanding of a healthy society in the African context.

The symposium will provide a global perspective on the key issues to be addressed in the design of modern 21st century healthcare facilities, by providing a balanced understanding of the key characteristics of a psychosocially-supportive environment that also meets clinical need and operational priorities. The symposium will:
• Demonstrate the value of an interdisciplinary approach
• Develop understanding of health promotion by design of the physical environment
• Discuss the economic impact of efficient and appropriate psycho-socially supportive design
• Guide delegates through the challenges faced in understanding the role of the physical environment in shaping healthy societies of the future in Africa.

Design & Health Africa 2011 will explore global ‘salutogenic’ perspectives on the planning, procurement, finance, design, construction and operation of health facilities within the local context of infrastructure development in the region.

The symposium will discuss how ‘salutogenic approaches’ to health infrastructure development in Africa can provide a more cost-effective context for enhancing human health, wellbeing and quality of life. The goal of this symposium is to provide a forum for the latest knowledge on health infrastructure from around the world to enable benchmarking and the development of tools for the planning and evaluation of healthcare facilities in Africa. The Academy will provide the most recent knowledge by engaging some of the most highly qualified experts in the world from North America, Asia and Europe as well as from Africa. The symposium will be developed with the support of the Ministry of Health from African countries and industries.

The themes that will be presented are following;
• Health Policy and Infrastructure Development in Africa
• Health Perspectives, Theories and Application, inc. Salutogenic Approaches
• International Health Planning and Models of Care
• Design and Architecture for Health

• Infrastructure Investment, Finance & Procurement
• Sustainability, climate change and global health
• Emerging technology and the patient experience
• Interdisciplinary Approaches to Research & Evaluation