On November 17th 2017, a Forum on National Dialogue regarding Health care Financing in Senegal was held at the King Fahd Palace Hotel in Dakar-Senegal. This event engaged all the stakeholders involved in health care: public and private sectors, civil society, technical and financial partners and was presided by His Excellency Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal with the effective presence of Mrs. Marijke Wijnroks, Executive Director (b.i) of the Global Fund.
The array of personalities present at this forum shows, if need be, the importance of this meeting which aimed at mobilizing resources, mainly domestic for increased and perennial healthcare funding in order to reach the universal health care coverage in Senegal and contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. In fact, in a global context of scarcity of financial resources, the Global Fund and the State of Senegal considered it necessary paving the way for discussions in order to (I) identify domestic financing mechanisms (sources) including Innovative funding, (ii) to share experiences on the different strategies, tools and actions to be implemented to address the dual challenges of mobilizing domestic resources and their efficient use in health care, (iii) Share the experiences, strategies mobilizing and the efficient use of external resources and (iv) engaging stakeholders (Parliament, Government, civil society organizations, the private sector, bilateral and Multilateral partners, local authorities, etc.) to domestic resource mobilization process.
During the meeting in Abuja, Senegal and other African countries, had committed to allocate 15% of its budget to health care; His Excellency Macky Sall also expressed his willingness to “put in place a financing mechanism to tackle the major constraints, including the inadequate resources devoted to health care below 15%”.
Health care funding remains a challenge as it encompasses a lot of fronts; however, the strengthening of the health care system remains a constant, since without a strong health care system, any investment would be a non-quality coup in the long run. Thus renewing his leadership, the President of the Republic of Senegal said: ‘’the state will put in place the means and demand for quality health care’’.
With this commitment, H.E. Macky Sall was designated Champion of resource mobilization for health care.
After the speeches and presentations, the best tools, actions and strategies to mobilize domestic and external resources and their efficient use were identified as well as domestic financing mechanisms, including Innovative financing; The private sector has thus committed to mobilizing approximately 200 billion CFA in the next three years as a contribution to the implementation plan of the National Health care Funding strategy; The head of State has urged local governing bodies to increase their contributions to the financing of health care from their own resources but also by promoting the health care coverage of vulnerable groups in their territories through health care mutual, this in addition to the Endowment Fund which the State makes available to them.
Other stakeholders (civil society organizations, the private sector, bilateral and multilateral partners, territorial governing bodies etc.) have committed themselves to the process of increasing the mobilization of resources for health care:
- The National Health care funding strategy roadmap towards a universal health care coverage
- The emergency plan for the supply chain of medicines and essential products for health care
- The action Plan of the International Health Regulations
- The health care investment file for the mother, Child and adolescents
In the afternoon of the same day, Mrs. Marijke Wijnroks, executive Director (b.i) of the Global Fund took advantage of her visit to Senegal to visit the Dakar Ambulatory Treatment Center, the reference Structure for the management of HIV in the CEPIAD countries, drug users care facility (drug addiction).
