Date: 2017-11-24 00:35:49 ID: 1767

The director general of WAHO accompanied by the coordinator of the projects management unit of the World Bank, Mr. Césaire AHANHANZO, on 23 November 2017, at the UFR/SDS of the University of Ouagadougou1, officially handed over the equipment. The set of equipment, comprising vehicles, office furniture, computer hardware and a video projector, a generator set etc. was acquired by the CDC Foundation under the WARDS project, which came to an end under the management of WAHO, and the funding from the World Bank.

The handing over ceremony took place in the presence of the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ouagadougou1 Joseph KI ZERBO, the Director of the UFR/SDS, lectures and administrative staff.

By handing over the equipment, the Director General of WAHO reaffirmed the desire of his institution to support human resource capacity building in health, a desire that is regularly concretised in the ECOWAS member states and unanimously commended by the staff of the UFR/SDS, through its Director, Professor Claudine LOUGUET, who also communicated the satisfaction of the beneficiaries with regard to WAHO’s efforts to improve training and equip health training facilities in the ECOWAS region. She also recalled the achievements of the Field epidemiology and laboratory training programme (FLTP) which, at the end of two years of its implementation, provided training at the University of Ouagadougou 1 Professor Joseph KI ZERBO, for 28 Health Professionals from Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo, who are already working in their respective countries within the framework of the disease control.

On his part, Dr Xavier CRESPIN, stated that the handing over of the equipment to the UFR/SDS of the University of Ouagadougou1 should enable the UFR/SDS « to carry out under favourable conditions the noble and exalting mission, which is to provide quality training to officials from francophone and lusophone countries of West Africa, in line with the implementation of the Regional Disease Surveillance Systems Enhancement (REDISSE) in West Africa project. This explains the gratitude of the Director General of WAHO « to the World Bank group for its financial and technical support in the implementation of the four projects (REDISSE, M/NTD, SWEDD and ECOWAS MRH), but also to all partners for their various forms of technical and financial support to WAHO, and to ECOWAS countries in the strengthening of surveillance, response to epidemics and strengthening of health systems in member countries ».

The WARDS project, which plays a catalytic role with its implementation providing an opportunity for WAHO to benefit from other project financing towards the implementation of priority interventions to control diseases under WAHO 2016-2020 strategic plan, aimed at strengthening diseases surveillance and response systems at the regional level and in ECOWAS member countries. The Project, which ended on 30 June 2017, was implemented over a period of 4 years (2013-2017).

Moctar Traoré, PO Communication