According to industry estimates, Africans spend more than $5 billion annually to access advanced medical treatments overseas. On the continent, South Africa, Kenya and Ghana are the main countries which attract African patients whereas India is the main recipient of African patients outside the continent.
Africa carries over 20% of the global burden of disease. From infectious maladies such as HIV and tuberculosis to non communicable diseases, the continent has been engaged in a continuous fight to provide for cheap and efficacious healthcare systems to treat its population.
The consensus is that many African countries have prioritised healthcare service delivery towards treatment of infectious and parasitic diseases, which has today left a void in tackling other ailments. According to the World Health Organisation, non communicable diseases (NCDs) are increasingly becoming the main cause of mortality on the continent, and are responsible for 37% of deaths in 2019, rising from 24% in 2000.
Cardiovascular diseases are the most frequent causes of NCDs deaths, responsible for approximately 13% of all deaths and 37% of all NCDs deaths in Africa. In 2020, there were around 1.1 million new cancer cases and 700,000 deaths in Africa. Africa accounts for 5.7 % of global cancer incidence but has a larger share of deaths, at more than 7 %. Cancer death rates in Africa are projected to exceed the global average by 30% in the next 20 years. Additionally, there were 24 million people with diabetes in 2021 and the total number of people with diabetes in the region is predicted to increase by 129% to 55 million by 2045.
Hence, the rational behind the increasing number of African nationals travelling overseas to access medical care. As per industry reports, common medical procedures undergone by outbound African patients include dental care, general surgery, fertility treatments, organ and tissue transplantation, and cancer treatment. In addition, novel and specialised treatments such as cell therapy are also high on the list of procedures that draw African patients to international treatment centres.
Mauritius has for a number of years been welcoming African patients – mostly from the Indian Ocean region. However, the country has been attracting more and more patients from the wider sub-Saharan region since the last couple of years. This rise in African patients travelling to Mauritius is attributable to the considerable investments made by public and private healthcare institutions/companies in upgrading existing healthcare infrastructures or setting up new ones. This has accordingly led to enlarging the healthcare service offerings in the country which is today capable to cater for simple to complex medical procedures, such as dental care, cosmetic surgery, oncology and cardiovascular interventions among others.
Apart from the provision of healthcare services, Mauritius can also play a part in enabling African countries to secure some of their medical devices and eventually pharmaceutical products requirements. The African medical devices market is valued at around $ 4 billion, much of which is today imported from outside the African continent. Mauritius has an emerging medical device manufacturing industry which produces catheters, cardiovascular & oncology implants, and ophthalmic instruments amongst others. These are currently being exported to Asian, European and USA markets, hence, the opportunity exists for Mauritian based manufacturers to eventually supply to African countries, depending on their needs.
