The World Health Organization's (WHO) budget for Africa was too small, South African Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said in Maputo on Tuesday.

In a statement received in Johannesburg, her office said the 55th session of the WHO-Afro Regional Committee was told the WHO budget for Africa for 2006/07 that amounted to 949.5 million dollars was not sufficient when compared to the high incidence of diseases in the continent.

The minister said, "it is appreciated that the African region is getting the second highest budget only to the headquarters.

This high allocation however is not sufficient in comparison to the high burden of diseases."

She made the remarks while addressing health ministers and delegates from 46 countries at the end of a five-day meeting.

The WHO has allocated Africa nearly 30 percent of all its combined income for the next two years.

Luis Sambo, WHO regional director for Africa, admitted during his opening address on Monday that the budget relied heavily on voluntary funding.

"It is of concern that a high percentage of the budget (78 percent) comes from voluntary contributions and therefore may be subject to unpredictable periods of availability -- further they may be tied to certain programs and not really for distribution to all countries," said Tshabalala-Msimang.

The session identified 16 areas as priorities, namely: health systems development, HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB, maternal health, child health, mental health, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and obstructive chronic respiratory diseases, blood safety, poverty and health, preparedness for and response to emergencies and epidemics, youth and adolescent health, health promotion, essential medicines (including traditional medicine), nutrition, and health and environment.

She said "we support the 16 priority programs that will be covered by the budget but note that whilst the WHO Report of 2005 mentions neonates as needing to be prioritized since they fall between the cracks of the Maternal and Child Health Care programs."