Representatives from WHO, African Development Bank, GAVI, Global Fund, France, JICA, UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNWomen and USAID met in Dakar from 28-31 March 2017 to decide upon the future of Harmonization for Health in Africa (HHA), a mechanism co-founded by AfDB and partners in 2006, to deliver coordinated support to health systems strengthening in African countries.
During this meeting convened by WHO Regional Office for Africa and hosted by UNFA Regional Directorate for West Africa, HHA partners affirmed their renewed commitment to HHA and provided the strategic directions to enhance its impact at country and regional levels. Chairing the opening ceremony, Senegal Minister of Health Pr. Awa Marie Coll Seck (photo) thanked HHA for its significant contribution to the attainment of health development objectives in Africa.
Director of Human Capital, Youth and Skills Development Department, Sunita Pitamber
The Bank Group's Director of Human Capital, Youth and Skills Development Department, Sunita Pitamber, emphasised the critical importance of increasing value for the money spent in social sectors and the need for HHA to strategise its support for maximum impact. She also highlighted the importance of supporting African governments in enhancing collaboration with the private sector in achieving the SDGs.
HHA will be providing coordinated support from its member agencies to existing country coordination mechanisms with special emphasis on countries where coordination and absorption capacity are challenging. This support will be channeled through the countries' strategic planning cycles, and emphasize health governance and financing, removal of implementation bottlenecks, and achieving and tracking concrete results. Efforts will also be deployed to enhance HHA impact in key thematic areas such as public-private collaboration, Public Finance Management in the health sector and the broader area of value for money.