Date: 2017-07-25 10:22:19 ID: 1679
Bamako hosts from 24 to 25 July 2017, the deliberations of the 3rd meeting of the regional steering committee of the Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases (M/NTD) in the Sahel project.
Organised by WAHO, which coordinates the implementation of the regional activities of the project, the meeting aims at examining the level of implementation of the recommendations from the committee’s meeting held in November 2016 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to assess the level of implementation of the 2017 Annual Work Plan for procurement. It was also to discuss the recommendations from the last supervisory and support mission undertaken in April-May 2017 on the implementation of the project by countries and at WAHO, and also discuss the level of indicators of the results framework.
At the opening ceremony of the meeting, the Chief Director of the Ministry of health and public hygiene of Mali was in the chair, in the presence of the Director General WAHO and the representative of the World Bank’s resident representative.
Dr Xavier CRESPIN, Director General of WAHO, gave an overview of implementation of the project and mentioned the challenges as well as the major areas of progress made after the start of the activities a year ago. In view of the results, he made an appeal to all the country Project Coordinators and to those at WAHO to take the necessary remedial measures to deal with the challenges observed. “You have the obligation to achieve results by which the steering committee will assess the performance of the project management units at all levels”, stated the Director General of WAHO. He also wished the meeting, on behalf of participants, fruitful discussions in examining all the means to achieve success in the project activities.
The Chief Director of the Ministry of health and public hygiene of Mali, after recognising the relevance of the on-going project in the Sahel countries, expressed satisfaction for the choice of Mali to host the meeting. He insisted on the commitment of all stakeholders involved in the control of malaria and neglected tropical diseases. For Dr Bakary DIARRA, the success of the project activities is critical to success in “reducing the enormous burden of seasonal malaria and neglected tropical diseases in order to contribute to poverty reduction, increase productivity and improve the quality of life of the people”. In the same vein as the Director General of WAHO, he commended the contribution of all partners involved in the project and expressed the wish to see the continuation of their support.
Over the period of 48 hours of work, participants at the steering committee meeting, through presentations and discussions, will consider the assessment report on the project implementation during the first quarter of 2017. They will also formulate recommendations towards ensuring greater progress in the activities funded with an amount of 121 million US$, which includes 10 million US$ contribution from WAHO. The M/NTD project, whose objective is to increase access to and utilisation of community-based services for the prevention and treatment of malaria and some neglected tropical diseases in the cross-border areas of the beneficiary countries, actually started its activities in May 2016. The project covers Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
