New research from ActionAid International, The Human Cost of Public Sector Cuts in Africa, highlights how austerity measures have led to the deterioration of public health and education services over the last five years. The research draws from a survey conducted through interviews and focus group discussions in six African countries – Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, and Nigeria – among 616 individuals in rural and urban locations (296 health workers and teachers and 320 service users). It reveals that a decline in the quality and availability of services has stretched frontline health workers and teachers thin, and threatened the rights of communities. Health workers and teachers are facing overwhelming workloads and fewer resources to perform their jobs effectively, while communities are deprived of public services due to high costs and poor quality.
The report calls for immediate actions from the IMF, national governments, and their health and education ministries to address the dire situation of public services:
- We urge the IMF to stop imposing austerity measures and privatisation and instead focus on progressive tax reforms and debt relief or cancellation to increase government revenues for greater investment in public services.1
- National governments should reject coercive IMF policies, seek debt relief or cancellation, and expand tax revenues in fair ways to rebuild public health and education workforces and infrastructure. They should demand the democratisation of decisions on debt relief and cancellation, with the creation of a UN Framework Convention on Sovereign Debt, and support the UN Framework Convention on Tax. They should also prioritise the substantive gender equality commitments made in the groundbreaking Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action – 30 years old this year – by ensuring that women’s rights are upheld in economic policy.
- Education ministries should collaborate with finance ministries to ensure that at least 20% of national budgets are allocated to education, in line with global benchmarks. They should ensure there are sufficient numbers of trained and qualified teachers, who are fairly remunerated and have access to professional development and support to reduce the burden of unpaid care work that falls particularly on women teachers. There is also a need to ensure that schools are gender responsive and inclusive, and to focus on increasing funding to build more schools, improve school infrastructure, and ensure learning materials that are accessible for all learners, including those with diverse needs.
- Health ministries should work with finance ministries to ensure the achievement of the Abuja Declaration benchmark of allocating 15% of the national budget towards healthcare. They need to recruit more health workers, ensuring they are fairly remunerated, allocate more resources to public health facilities, improve healthcare infrastructure, and provide mental health support for workers.
These measures aim to create a more equitable and effective public service system, in line with States’ human rights obligations and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to better serve the needs of communities.
- Date published: April 2025
- Number of pages: 56