The 39 course participants of the Cotonou course

The 50th PBF course was held in Cotonou from October 12 to 23, 2015 with thirty-nine participants from Chad (16) Niger (10x), Haiti (4x) Cameroon (3x), DRC (2), Comoros (2x), Ivory Coast (1x) and Benin (1x).

There were six participants, who obtained a certificate of distinction with a score of 90% or more:

• Dr Adama OUEDRAOGOU of Benin; Christina DAURISCA from Haiti; Koulthoume Maoulana from the Comoros; Dr Charles Kambo Sanza from DRC; Dr Pascal BEMADJINGAR from Chad; Dr. Francis SIMO Peumo from Cameroon;
• Christian WOLLO KLA from Ivory Coast obtained a Mention with 87%.

COUNTRY RECOMMENDATIONS

Cameroon

• Advocate for derogations for the PBF structures and regulatory authorities.
• Recruit more quality staff for the Regional CDV Agencies
• Advocate for the inclusion of bonuses for vulnerable regions

The sculptures of Benin

Comoros

• Conduct a feed back meeting within the MOH on the PBF training
• Conduct a restitution with the other stakeholders such as the Ministry of Finance, AFD, GAVI, UNICEF, UNFPA, CCM, Ministry of Education, FENAMUSAC, MAEECHA, etc.
• Organize the external review of the current pilot PBF Project
• Implement the recommendations of this review
• Mobilise additional resources
• Scale up the PBF program

Ivory Coast

Cote d’Ivoire is scaling up PBF, which is considered an effective instrument to improve the performance of the health system and a precursor for radical reforms of the health system. There is already ownership by the Ministry and other stakeholder’s buy in.

Niger

• Assign staff to the PBF unit required for its operation
• Organize a round table of partners to mobilize funds to ensure PBF
• Advocate for the opening of a PBF line in the national budget
• Integrate private health facilities in PBF
• Train and supervise community workers on the PBF indicator “Household Visit”

Chad

• Organize meetings at national and regional levels on the 50th PBF course
• Organize a high-level advocacy meeting and training on PBF
• Establish a pool of trainers in PBF
• Advocate within the MSP for more autonomy at health facility level to procure essential drugs at accredited wholesale organizations outside central medical stores;
• Provide a budget line for the PBF investment units at health facility level
• Conduct the rationalization of the health facilities in the PBF project area

Haiti

• Include 3 indicators on HIV / AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in the PBF package;
• Brief the contracting team responsible for the implementation of the International Strategy on the PBF course;
• Revise the indicators;
• Propose the insertion of the Investment Units.

Democratic Republic of Congo

Difficulties

• Low budget allocated to the health sector;
• Strong centralization of the health system resources;
• Poor management of resources: corruption, lack of accountability;
• BF is necessary in DRC to address these issues.

Benin

Strategies to strengthen the health system and the FBR in Benin:

• PBF promotes the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
• Integrate other MOH departments in the consultation about the PBF;
• Obtain the government’s commitment to maintain an appropriate level of governance to ensure the success of the PBF, including progress towards decentralization;
• Ensure, that health facilities have sufficient equipment and personnel;
• Ensure that the innovative initiatives (community PBF, quality assurance, involvement of the private health sector, …) are not diverted into vertical programs, but retain their cross-cutting nature;
• UNICEF, through its mission to the realization of rights of children in accordance with the Convention of Rights of the Child (CRC) is part of this process in Benin not only to strengthen the acquired high impact package at community level but also at health facility level to the fight against child, maternal, and neonatal mortality.