PERSPECTIVES
health flattens, African nations will need to raise more of the
money themselves. As described in the WHO report “The
Abuja Declaration: Ten Years On,” of September 2000, 189
heads of state adopted the Millennium Declaration designed
to improve social and economic conditions in the world’s
poorest countries by 2015. Subsequently, a set of eight goals
was devised, drawing on the Millennium Declaration, as a
way of tracking progress. Three of these relate specifically
to health; two more have health components. In April 2001,
heads of state of African Union countries met and pledged
to set a target of allocating at least 15 percent of their an-
external donors, Tanzania doubled public health expenditure
during the early 2000s, channelling funds into the integrated
management of childhood illness, insecticide-treated nets,
vitamin A supplements, immunization, and breastfeeding.
A 2012 article by Mills et al. indicates that the reward for
improving the coverage of these services was an accelerated
reduction in child mortality. As Dr. L.G. Sambo described
in his keynote address at the 2012 Conference of Ministers
of Finance and Health in [