 |
|
URC/CHS News Archives | Contact us | Home URC/CHS NewsURC Builds on and Expands Health Sector Success in Benin
The U.S. Agency for International Development awarded URC a Cooperative Agreement in March 2006 to work in partnership with the Ministry of Health to improve the health of the people of Benin. The Integrated Family Health Project (Projet Intégré de Santé Familiale or PISAF) is a five-year project based in the Zou/Collines region in central Benin, with complementary work in Borgou/Alibori in northern Benin and the Ouémé/Plateau in the southeast. PISAF builds on and expands USAID’s successful efforts to improve family health, malaria, and HIV/AIDS services, including URC’s seven years of experience in Borgou and Alibori under Promotion Intégrée de Santé Familiale, or PROSAF.
The strong foundation already created in Benin in service delivery, quality assurance, and decentralization will facilitate PISAF’s work with the Ministry of Health to establish and implement national policies, norms, standards, and protocols to provide a favorable environment for improvement within the health sector. PISAF will support the national level to develop effective mechanisms to incorporate new medical evidence into national norms; institutionalize best practices in quality assurance, ascendant planning, and insurance schemes; develop appropriate policies and procedures to support these best practices; and support the empowerment of health zones and regions through effective decentralization.
PISAF seeks to improve the overall quality of health services by strengthening capacity at various levels of the health system and among NGOs and civil society groups to provide high-quality health services and information. This includes an integration of new technical areas into the family health minimum package, including counseling and testing for HIV/AIDS, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, antiretroviral therapy, intermittent presumptive treatment for malaria, and distribution of insecticide-treated bednets. Access to those quality health services, another key aspect of PISAF’s work, involves the expansion of group insurance schemes, or Mutuelles de Sante, improved availability of health services and products, and increased community-based service provision. Community mobilization and behavior change communications efforts will be focused on stimulating demand for health services at the community level through peer education, communication through local radio stations and other media venues, participatory community theater, and materials development.
URC’s primary implementing partner for PISAF is Abt Associates. The two organizations have a combined total of 25 years of experience working in Benin. PISAF also will collaborate closely with local and international NGOs, other USAID-funded projects and donor agencies, community-based and faith-based organizations, and the private sector. Dr. Aguima Tankoano is leading a team of technical advisors for malaria, reproductive health, quality assurance, health zone management strengthening, health information systems, commodities management, decentralization, health financing, community mobilization, and behavior change communications. For more information on PISAF, contact Tonja Cullen at tcullen@urc-chs.com.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
