Date: 2017-09-07 20:52:25 ID: 1706
Bobo-Dioulasso, 7 September 2017 – As a prelude to the 2018 annual meeting of the programmes committee, the Directors of Departments and Programme Officers as well as the Heads of various WAHO projects get together in a conclave from 7 to 8 September 2017 in Bobo-Dioulasso, in the Kabba T. JOINER meeting room at the headquarters of the Organisation.
This annual exercise instituted by WAHO Management aims at examining in detail the proposed activities and budget to be submitted for validation by the Programmes Committee, through a revision and validation of the WAHO 2018 Action Plan, pending the decision of the ECOWAS Commission. The goal of this two-day meeting (7 to 8 September 2017), presided over by the Deputy Director General (DDG) is to revise and validate the WAHO 2018 Action Plan before it is forwarded to the ECOWAS Commission.
At the beginning of the deliberations the Director General, Dr Xavier CRESPIN, insisted on complying with the directives received from the ECOWAS Commission for the preparation of the budget. They relate to budgetary constraints, increase of the contingency budget which should go from 1 to 5%, the inclusion of operational costs of the Regional Centre for Disease and Epidemics Surveillance, not forgetting the implementation priorities expressed by the States, which are five in number, namely: 1) management of epidemics and catastrophes; 2) non-communicable diseases; 3) capacity building; 4) hospital reforms; and 5) immunisation.
For the Director General of WAHO, taking into consideration these priorities is critical in maintaining WAHO’s leadership role. This is because of the demands made on the institution by countries regularly confronted with epidemics and natural catastrophes.
That is why Dr Xavier CRESPIN insisted on the need for the Programme Officers to work towards a consensus. The urgency of finalising the WAHO 2018 Action Plan and submitting it within the deadline is in consonance with the requirements and programme of the ECOWAS Commission, which should organise an arbitration meeting on all the action plans of all institutions in the week of 25 September 2017 in Abuja.