To Brad and Angelina, a girl, born in Namibia.
To Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, a daughter, Shiloh. She will be a sister for the couple's adopted children from Cambodia and Ethiopia.
Her Biblical name means "the desired one" or "the peaceful one", and there can be little doubt Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt will want for nothing, having been born into a life of privilege and growing up in the love and care of Hollywood's golden couple, described by People magazine as "the world's most beautiful family".
She came into the world early yesterday in Namibia, where most of the two million people were born into poverty. Her mother, an ambassador for the UN refugee agency who has been widely praised for her commitment to Africa, decided to give birth in Namibia after discovering the beauty of the desert country during the filming of Beyond Borders.
To make sure that the people of Africa will really benefit, Jolie and Pitt have decided that the rumoured $3m (£1.5m) they will charge for the first photograph of the baby, whose much-anticipated birth generated an international media frenzy, will be given to the UN.
Shiloh was born at the Welwitschia Clinic in Walvis Bay at 1.40am with all the trappings of modern science on hand……..
Erica Gebhardt – 29 May 2006 [i]
Healthcare in Namibia
Namibia can provide world class health facilities to its residents, and also become an earner of foreign exchange. (The choice by Angelina Jolie to have her child in Namibia has proved that point.) To do so we need to use legislation and economic incentives to encourage structural reform and its commercialisation, or even partial privatisation.
Looking at European models such as Germany we find examples of how this can be done. First, we need to create a law that makes membership of the National Health Insurance Programme (NHIP) mandatory. In the law we need to delegate the administration of the programme to non-state bodies with representatives of the insured and the employers. Further, benefits and contributions must be related to earnings. The financing of the scheme must be secured through wage and salary taxes (much like the social security), levied on the employer and the employee.
The following of are some of the tools that can be used in ensuring cost savings in both the National Health Insurance Programme and private providers:
- Procurement of medicines should be transferred to an autonomous central purchasing agency. This agency (and its tenders) will be supervised by a public committee or Parliament.
- Approved list of medicines will include generic medicines wherever possible and exclude expensive brands where generics exist.
- Establish an agency to monitor and regulate the private sector healthcare provision.
- Franchising – this model works well in preventive care, family health and reproductive health (Kenya, Pakistan, Philippines)
Electronic Patient Records
The NHIP will have at its core an electronic patient record system. This will be compatible with the Central Register as proposed in Chapter 4.
The most important consideration is to ensure the individual becomes the owner and caretaker of their information. The patient will carry the information (on a smartcard for example), to where the service is provided rather than having their records on the servers of the healthcare provider. This will be in contrast to the Central Register where information is stored on Government computers.
Financing the Healthcare programme
The employer and employee should each contribute of 5% of the gross salary towards the Health Fund.
To prevent abuse:
- 20% of each medical claim must be paid by the patient at the time of the examination or procedure (employees under the taxable threshold must only pay a minimum fee);
- Fee schedules must be drafted and the patient can only claim according to these. If a patient wishes more expensive care, they must pay the difference.
National Pension Plan
The National Pension Plan as proposed under the Social Security Commission must be prepared and tabled in parliament as soon as possible.
The present pension allowances are not sufficient to live on. The government must encourage saving for a persons old age. This will ensure better standards of living, as well as reducing the burden on the state.
[i] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/to-brad-and-angelina-a-girl-born-in-namibia-what-does-life-hold-for-the-nations-children-480171.html - accessed 10 April 2009