Ouagadougou: At the opening of the first Ministerial Sector Board of Directors (CASEM) of 2025, Minister of Health Dr. Robert Lucien Jean-Claude Kargougou issued a stern warning regarding the mismanagement of resources within Burkina Faso's health sector. 'Every franc misspent, every expired medication, every poorly maintained piece of equipment represents a direct loss of income for the health of our populations,' he emphasized, urging for optimal utilization of human, material, financial, and informational resources to benefit the people of Burkina Faso.
According to Burkina Information Agency, Dr. Kargougou highlighted the theme for the first CASEM of the Department of Health: "Optimization of health resources: what strategies to strengthen the effectiveness and efficiency of interventions and the accountability of actors at all levels of the health system?" This theme emerges against a backdrop of budgetary constraints, escalating health needs, and increased demands for transparency.
Dr. Kargougou reaffirmed the government's commitment to mitigating intervention fragmentation, enhancing resource allocation, and bolstering transparency. To achieve this, the ministry has initiated a dynamic mapping of resources from the national health development plan (PNDS) 2021-2030, aiming for equitable and transparent funding management.
The 2025 agenda prioritizes the presidential initiative for health by transforming health and social promotion centers (CSPS) into municipal medical centers and constructing and equipping new hospitals and specialized centers. Emphasis is also placed on operationalizing FASO-PHARMA for local essential medicine production and deploying computerized patient records and hospital information systems in university and regional hospitals.
Dr. Kargougou noted steps to enhance disease prevention, such as promoting health-related behavior changes through mass campaigns, utilizing mobile clinics, and implementing vector control activities.
The CASEM session, conducted both in-person and online, will cover the presentation of a digital platform for monitoring action plans, the roadmap for the National Health Development Strategy 2026-2030, ethics and professional conduct, the principle of recourse action, and the evaluation of 2024 health structure performance.
The Minister praised the efforts of health workers, especially those in security-challenged areas, for maintaining care continuity under challenging conditions. He encouraged participants to work with clarity and determination to propose sustainable solutions for a more equitable, efficient, and resilient health system.