National health development plan 2021-2030, experts look into the draft

For three days, from June 10 to 12, 2021, experts from the Mauritanian medical profession, supported by consultants and in the presence of development partners and civil society, will give their opinion on the draft of the National Health Development Plan 2021- 2030. The work of the discussion and consultation workshop was launched in this context on Thursday, June 10, 2021 in Nouakchott, by the Minister of Health.

The Minister of Health, Dr. Sidi Ould Zahaf chaired Thursday, June 10, 2021 in Nouakchott, at the launch of an exchange and consultation workshop on the National Health Development Plan (PNDS) 2021-2030, as well as on the 2021-2023 investment file. Were present at the meeting, the representative of the Delegation of the European Union, as well as the Resident Representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and UNICEF in Mauritania.

Health, a priority on the government agenda

In his remarks on the occasion, the Minister of Health recalled that in the electoral program of President Mohamed Cheikh Ghazouani, 32 points were devoted to the health sector. What, according to him, the Prime Minister has translated into an action program which has produced tangible results that the Mauritanian citizen has felt, as well as a restructuring plan which has ensured to keep the gains and to consolidate them. The presidential instructions focused, he will say in substance, on the attention to be paid to the health of populations at first glance, which, according to him, requires tireless work on the part of actors in the sector. The second objective, he continues, is to ensure the provision of permanent health services to all Mauritanians regardless of their place of residence or their social or economic situation.

« It is within this framework that the ambitious program was launched very recently to grant health insurance to 20% of the poorest Mauritanian population » underlined Dr. Sidi Ould Zahaf who declared that this initiative is to salute for its particularity

The minister then informed the audience about the triggering a few months ago of an operation led by his department to adopt a ten-year plan for the development of the health sector, which he said required surveys and data collections. data as well as the mobilization of multifaceted technical resources in various specialties and fields. « We are now gathered around the results of this approach, the 2021-2030 National Ten-Year Plan, for the health sector, » he said.

Look to the future

Preceding the Minister of Health, the Representative of the Delegation of the European Union, had previously stated that the present workshop aims to make projections on the basis of an assessment of the steps already taken and the achievements to be achieved in the future. He praised the efforts made so far by all stakeholders, health personnel, partners and other stakeholders. « This PNDS is the strategic variation of the interventions that we are going to carry out for the coming years » he underlined.

Adopt a multisectoral approach

For his part, the WHO Representative praised « the quality of the political dialogue which will lead to a quality document, which will serve as a reference for all of us, the partners, to provide the necessary support to Mauritania and ‘help achieve its health development agenda’.

This participatory process, according to him, will help everyone to agree on the priorities and to have a common vision on health development, especially to engage all the actors to support and accompany the Ministry of Health in the implementation. implementation of the priority choices that will be made.

He insisted on three aspects, governance which calls for multisectoral approaches to address the socioeconomic determinants of health, the capacity of the Ministry of Health to play its regulatory role within the framework of governance in favor of health, in addition to integrated and multi-risk approaches that improve the health situation

Finally, the last aspect according to him, keep in mind that the purpose of all these approaches is the Mauritanian citizen for whom it is necessary to make available a quality and sustainable health service offer

Workgroups

Under the guidance of the consultants, the participants split into four groups, according to the themes contained in the draft of the PNDS. A group on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, a group on communicable and non-communicable diseases, a group on health security and response to public health emergencies, and finally, a group on governance and equitable access to quality health services

The participants, including various central officials, regional directors for health action, consultants and civil society, will review the document, and refer to their field of qualification and their knowledge of the health sector. health, to provide their observations and suggestions on the parts of the document assigned to them.

They must verify the relevance, consistency and feasibility of the data contained therein, vision, goals, principles, strategic actions and logical framework of interventions, financing framework and budget projections, implementation framework.

During three days, the participants will thus have, in their respective groups, to put their imputes on the parts of the document which are submitted to them. A restitution is planned at the end of the work, then the pre-final presentation of the modified document and its final adoption.

It should be noted that several members of civil society active in the field of development are participating in the work of the workshop which will close on Saturday, June 12, 2021.

Sheikh Aidara