Kedougou: Beginning this Friday, for 2 days, of the regional workshop on the promotion of Endogenous Mechanisms of Health Financing: the example of the contribution in kind and the collective field. The objective of the meeting is to structure and validate the model of payment in kind of membership fees and contributions in mutual health insurance companies in a specific way.
More than 700km travelled, nearly 10 hours of travel, here we are! Like a long black snake which undulates unceasingly, the road which leads to Kedougou is often crossed by a fulgurance of natural feelings. Born from the administrative division of 2008, the region of Kedougou is the result of the former Tambacounda.
It borders Mali and Guinea and has a little more than 155,000 inhabitants. Located in the extreme east of Senegal, the region is the most mountainous of the country. Majestically erected on the banks of the Gambia River, near the Bédik and Bassari countries, Kedougou is a gift of nature, a sumptuous place with a subsoil rich in gold, phosphate, copper, marble, in short… in everything.
A dense forest, a luxuriant vegetation then… Dindéfélo, famous waterfall and major attraction of the country bassari which offers sumptuous waterfalls fretillantes to 20 m. Welcome to kedougou where the generosity of nature is combined at will!
The city of Kedougou with a view of the Gambia River
He is one of the undisputed masters of Kedougou. When Mamadou Sidibé organizes, everyone is there. Adulated by his people, the focal point of CICODEV is a prophet at home.
It is in 2015 that Mamadou Sidibé joined the experience of CICODEV and since then, he has been resolutely employed to the task.
At 75 years old, Sidibé is undoubtedly the dean of focal points. From the height of his experience, CICODEV undertakes to succeed in setting in motion the endogenous health financing mechanism materialized by the donation in kind. With the frank collaboration of the head of the CMU agency.
“If Keur Momath Mbayang was able to extend the Universal Health Coverage to its entire population, Kedougou should also be able to do so because we have land here and the region is well endowed by nature with several opportunities. This CICODEV program supported by the CMU agency on the donation in kind is of great importance. It will take a lot of communication through an inclusive approach to expand it further,” said the representative of the Governor of Kedougou.
Ousseynou Diop, CMU Kedougou branch manager
Ousseynou Diop, Regional CMU Director, Kedougou: “Financing is the most complicated issue of the University Health Coverage. We need a massification of mutual insurance companies. At the end of this workshop, we will have to produce a single document in the approach to in-kind contributions and CICODEV is a partner on whom we can always counter
Mrs. Aya Ndiaye (right)
Aissatou Aya Ndiaye, member of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council: “We are pleased with this meeting which will certainly remove the barriers to health financing in Kedougou.
Representative of the Governor of Kedougou: CICODEV, the CMU, the mutualists and their partners will have to involve more the prefects and the sub-prefects of the region for a better amplification of this approach. But I can assure you of the support of the local authorities.
The day of Friday was closed by a restitution of the groups’ work. The 4 consultants are now in the process of bringing the different groups to find a framework to set in motion one or more models of Mefs based on in-kind donations.
Today, the day of truth, the challenges are on the horizon for the groups Saréya, Salimata and Kédougou, representing the 3 departments of the region. It will be a question of :
1- Agree on the eligibility criteria of the products (non perishable and easy to sell because the demand is pressing and identified)
2- It will be necessary to ensure that the mutual insurance companies are ready to provide immediate health care (with availability of membership cards) as soon as the contribution in kind is deposited. The question raises the issue of the financial availability of the mutual insurance companies to provide care to members.
3- It will be necessary to identify, with all the actors, the channels for the sale of the products because the credit union may not have the techniques or the space to store all these products.
So many challenges that must be met this Saturday, the second and final day of the regional workshop on the promotion of the Mefs: the contribution in kind and the collective field.
Group work in the department of Kédougou
