USAID/Senegal and health:
helping build healthy communities

Since 1979, USAID/Senegal’s health program has supported the Ministry of Health and local communities in efforts to reduce maternal and child deaths, prevent infectious disease and other illness, and help people live healthier lives.  In addition to fighting major diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS, USAID strengthens national and local health systems, supports family planning programs to allow couples to have children when they want them, and helps communities plan and finance their own health services.  USAID’s health program aims to put quality health services within easy reach of the majority of Senegal’s population.  In addition to its support through the President’s Malaria Initiative, USAID/Senegal’s health program includes the following components:

Health care policy and financing:  USAID works closely with the Ministry of Health to negotiate and develop key policies and tools in the health sector to improve the health system and, ultimately, public health.  In addition to policy dialogue at the central level, this component supports Senegal’s efforts to decentralize its health services and empower local communities. Specifically, USAID helps locally-elected officials and civil society to develop and implement annual health plans that are funded by local revenues and decentralized funds from the Government of Senegal.  In 2007, USAID partners worked with 62 local communities to develop health plans and budgets, with the participation of more than 1,000 community members.  The program also gives technical assistance to mutual health organizations to assist people in financing their health care; almost 62,000 people were covered by such plans in 2007 (a 29% increase over 2006).

HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis:  At 0.7%, Senegal enjoys a relatively low prevalence of HIV among the general population, but has several populations with higher prevalence, and higher risk for those not infected.  In 2007, USAID funds and technical assistance resulted in HIV prevention messages reaching more than 85,000 people at high risk of HIV infection and 35,970 people receiving voluntary counseling and testing.  Through social marketing, over four million condoms were sold in 2007.  USAID funds provided care and psychosocial and nutritional support to 4,811 people living with HIV. USAID also supports the Ministry of Health in efforts to effectively diagnose and cure tuberculosis (TB) and to bring this treatment closer to communities.  This includes training to improve laboratory diagnosis and treatment follow-up, technical assistance to the National TB Program to improve management and planning, and linking of HIV and TB programs so that doubly-infected patients get the appropriate care. 

Maternal and child health and family planning:  USAID supports the Ministry of Health to improve maternal, newborn, and child health by preventing and treating the most common causes of illness and death among mothers and young children.  In 2007, the program trained 616 health care workers to improve prenatal care, safe birth practices, and essential newborn care, to prevent and treat malaria in expectant mothers and young children, and to provide emergency care to mothers with complications due to miscarriage or abortion.  Because longer periods of time between pregnancies result in healthier mothers and children, USAID promotes a wide range of contraceptive methods, including modern natural methods.  Social marketing activities contribute to increased access to family planning methods.  In 2007, consumers bought 150,263 monthly packages of contraceptive pills.
 
Community health: USAID support has helped Senegal introduce several highly innovative health interventions at village level in recent years.  In USAID-supported health huts, village volunteers are trained and equipped to treat malaria and pneumonia (two of the leading causes of death among Senegalese children), to prepare pregnant women for a safe birth, to assist TB patients in completing their months-long treatment, to provide essential care for newborns in their first moments of life, to offer family planning methods and counseling at community level, and to encourage healthy behaviors among all community members.  In 2007, the program trained 1,423 community health workers, who in turn reached more than 185,000 children with growth monitoring and nutrition counseling, treated almost 5,000 cases of pneumonia, and provided essential newborn care to more than 2,000 infants.