Thies, Dec. 9 (APS) – The village of Keur Momath Mbayang, “the only locality” in the country to reach a total universal health coverage rate, is “an example” of how endogenous mechanisms can take care of people’s health, Amadou Kanouté, executive director of CICODEV Africa, said Tuesday.
We may be poor, but that does not mean that we are unproductive,” said Amadou Kanouté.
A concrete example: this is the only village in Senegal that has achieved universal coverage,” he said, referring to the small village of Keur Momath Mbayang, located behind Sokone, in the Fatick region.
The head of CICODEV told women members of savings and credit associations (AVEC), and other organizations how this locality has succeeded, through endogenous health financing mechanisms, to “cover the entire population against disease risks.”
The village chief of Keur Momath Mbayang decided to provide the inhabitants of the village with land to which each should devote one hour of work per day.
The proceeds of the crops sold, whether millet, sorghum, groundnuts or other, were intended exclusively for the contributions or membership fees of the mutual health organization. This allowed every inhabitant of this village to be enrolled in the mutual health organization.
During the sharing session that CICODEV members attended, each inhabitant was given 2,100 francs. All they had to do was sell a chicken or something else to get the 3,500 francs required to join a mutual health organization, he said.
For Mr. Doucouré, the example is not “popular” as it is, since it occurred in rural areas, even if it is flexible, depending on the specifics of each area. Why wouldn’t the people who live by the sea allocate a canoe (for health expenses?)”, he suggested, for example.
These are practices “known in our cultures,” because they were designed by local people to meet their needs, he said.
This type of approach could broaden the base of contributions and reduce the burden on those who bear the household health expenses.
Village savings and credit associations (AVEC), sports and cultural associations (ASC), ”mbootaay”, can generate income to pay membership fees to mutual health organizations.
Source: http://aps.sn/actualites/societe/sante/article/plaidoyer-pour-une-loi-perennisant-la-cmu