Date: 2018-01-23 20:25:08 ID: 1793
Ouagadougou, 23rd January 2018 – The West Africa Health Organization (WAHO) and the World Bank held, from 22 to 23 January 2018, the second review of WAHO project portfolios funded by the World Bank.
Since 2013, WAHO has benefited from World Bank financial support for the implementation of various health projects. These are: the West Africa Regional Disease Surveillance and response (WARDS) project for capacity building; the project on Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases in the Sahel (M/NTD); the Sahel Women Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (SWEDD) project; the West Africa Regional Disease Surveillance Systems Enhancement (REDISSE) project and the ECOWAS Medicines Regulations Harmonization project (ECOWAS-MRH). In all, five projects with a total 800 million US dollars, representing 195 billion CFA francs, of which about 50 million US dollars has been granted to WAHO for regional coordination and the remainder for the countries.
This review, which took place in Ouagadougou at Splendid hotel, was therefore organized to (1) evaluate the progress made in the implementation of each of the projects; (2) identify the bottlenecks at all levels (planning, coordination, monitoring and evaluation, procurement, financial management, communication); (3) make practical recommendations with a view to optimizing the implementation of the planned activities; and (4) prepare a roadmap for the implementation of the recommendations formulated.
The opening ceremony was under the chairmanship of the Minister of Health of Burkina Faso, Professor Nicolas MEDA, and the authorities presents were Dr. Francine OUEDRAOGO, Chief Director of the Ministry, who represented the Minister, Dr. Laurent ASSOGBA, the Deputy Director General WAHO and Mr. Nicolas AHOUISSOUSSI of the World Bank mission in Burkina Faso.
In his address, the World Bank representative positively commended the spirit of partnership existing between his institution and WAHO. He recalled the commitment of the World Bank to the region over half a decade amounting 741 million US dollars, with the coordination and/or involvement of WAHO. The very first project funded by the World Bank for WAHO is the regional project for capacity building in disease surveillance called the West Africa Regional Disease Surveillance (WARDS) project with 10 million-dollars funding in 2013, indicated M. Ahouissoussi.
He strongly exhorted WAHO to do everything possible to strengthen its leadership in order to accelerate the process of effectively and efficiently implementing all the ongoing projects on schedule. In concluding, he clearly reaffirmed the readiness of the World Bank to support WAHO to carry out its mission.
Satisfied with the implementation of the WARDS project, the World Bank increased its support WAHO by granting it new projects which are: 
The Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases (M/NTD) project in the Sahel for the period 2015-2019; The Sahel Women Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (SWEDD) project for the period 2015-2018; The Regional Diseases Surveillance Systems Enhancement (REDISSE) project for the period 2016-2022; The Medicines Regulations Harmonization in West Africa (ECOWAS-MRH) project for the period 2017-2019.
The Deputy Director General of WAHO, Dr. Laurent ASSOGBA, on his part, thanked the World Bank team from Washington and from the Ouagadougou Bureau for their constant support. He expressed a desire for the strengthening collaboration between the World Bank and his institution. He reaffirmed WAHO’s commitment to the effective implementation of all the projects funded by the World Bank. Finally, Dr Assogba gave assurance that WAHO will spare no efforts to implement the recommendations from the review process.
The Minister of Health represented by Dr. Francine OUEDRAOGO, Chief Director of the Ministry of Health, first of all recognized the great significance of the review of the projects, which have a regional impact. He emphasized the challenges and the numerous health problems faced by ECOWAS member States. The minister expressed a strong desire for inter-sector, regional and national capacity; increase access to and utilization of the harmonized services through the various regional projects that are being implemented by WAHO.
Before ending his speech, the Minister, through the Chief Director, reaffirmed his desire to see the results of the meeting bring about improvements in the implementation of the projects, since this will lead to the harmonization of experiences. He invited stakeholders to engage in deeper interactions for a better monitoring of the projects and programs
C/Com/OOAS/HHK/230118
