Click pictureThe course took place from the 6th to the 17th of May 2013 in Kigali with 26 participants. There were 14 participants from Chad, five participants from Rwanda, four of Guinea, two of Burkina Faso and one from Niger.
The 26 participants to the course.
The high level delegation from Chad had three director generals. They developed impressive proposals to improve the health system with the commitment to integrate their current inefficient free health care system into PBF financing, but with a more efficient way of targeting the vulnerable. This may make the Chadian health system more realistic. Dr BRAHIM Hamit – one of the director generals – had the highest score of all participants and obtained a distinction.
The course was an initiative of HDP Rwanda and SINA Health in collaboration with the Rwanda School of Public Health and under the Patronage of the Rwandan Ministry of Health.All participants at Friday the 10th of May had a 90 minutes audience with the Minister of Health Dr Agnes Binagwaho.
Participants with Minister of Health
Besides the very impressive achievements with performance systems in Rwanda, it also appears that the PBF system requires strengthening and notably in terms of stronger verification at health facility and household level. Surprisingly, the distribution of essential drugs in Rwanda is still organised through a government monopoly and this may need to be reviewed to obtain more efficiencies and less waste.
On Sunday, May 12, the participants visited various monuments Kigali followed by a race to the highest points of Kigali.
Dr Cisse Fode: The 1000th member of the COP PBF
During the last day of the course there was a big surprise. One of the participants Dr Cissé Fode became the 1000th member of the community of practice PBF. We also congratulate the COP PBF with this success. The course organisers gave Dr Cissé Fode a present and there will be an interview posted with him at the COP PBF.
The course uses participatory voting technology Turning Point, while participants instead of facilitators present the modules. With role plays the course enhances attitude changes, develops skills in conducting PBF advocacy and how to manage conflicts. The beginning of learning is the experience of the participants themselves.
This wonderful PBF journey continues to spread across the continent and we expect and hope that especially Chad, Rwanda, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Niger will develop more pure PBF designs as the result of the course.
We just finished a very animated two-week PBF course (the 27th) in Cotonou Benin organised by BEST-SP, SINA Health and HDP Rwanda. There were 35 participants, who all attended the full 12 days from April the 8th to the 19th. All conducted a test for which the participants achieved the above average result of 79%. There were 10 distinctions, which means 3 mistakes or less from a total of 30 multiple-choice questions. The majority of participants were funded by the CTB Belgium (16x), the World Bank and Cordaid.