Donors pledge US $123 millions for health plan

Burkina Faso's main donors have agreed to provide US $123 million for the implementation of the 2003-2010 National Health Development Plan (PNDS, French abbreviation). The announcement came at the end of a one-day roundtable organised on Tuesday at the request of the government, which is seeking funds to cover a deficit of $200 million in the PNDS. The total cost of the plan is $1.81 billion. "I think the plan has been well prepared in a participatory and inclusive approach," Dr Hacem Mohamed, the World Health Organization's (WHO) representative in Burkina Faso and spokesman of the donors, said. Mohamed said the fact that the different health departments, national partners and ministers - including those of finance and budget and development - had taken part in the preparation of the document, had made it an efficient one. He stressed the importance of the fact that all partners had agreed on the vision and objectives and the way to achieve them. A joint communiqué issued after the meeting said that many donors had pledged to contribute or to increase their contribution to help the government implement the PNDS. However, for a better implementation of the PNDS, the donors had requested the government to set up before the end of May a follow-up team to monitor the implementation of the plan, a quarterly review of its implementation, the amount spent and the objectives reached. The government and the donors have also agreed to set up joint delegations in order to follow the implementation of the various components of the plan, whose priorities include acting on HIV/AIDS. Burkina Faso is one of the countries hardest hit by HIV in West Africa even though the joint UN programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) announced that there was a slight improvement in the national prevalence rate, which is now 6.5 instead of 7.17 percent. Other priorities include decentralising health services, improving national sanitary coverage and developing human resources so that Burkina Faso can meet WHO standards. Only 20 percent of the 12 million Burkinabe attend health centres and there is one doctor for 20,000 persons whereas the WHO's minimum standard is 1:10,000. People walk up to 8.5 kms to reach a health centre. Each year the government invests 7.09 percent of the national budget in the health sector. Last year, the amount was 37 billion FCFA (about US $61.3 million). "Conscious of the importance of health in human development the government has made health one of its priorities, but despite these investments Burkina Faso remains far behind the WHO standards and the health situation remains preoccupying," Finance and Budget Minister Jean Baptiste Compaore said on Tuesday at the roundtable. According to Campaore, the main constraint remains rapid population growth rate, now 2.7 percent. Other constraints include lack of infrastructure, inadequate health systems, insufficient human resources and the impact of emerging ailments such as AIDS.