Burkina Faso

Policies that build strong primary health care systems are essential to advancing health equity— but they are complex and difficult to design. PATH created the PHC in Policies Tracker as a consolidated source of information to equip stakeholders including policymakers, advocates, implementers, and donors with information about existing policies that shape PHC systems. This new virtual public dashboard tool maps and analyzes data about national-level health policy documents relevant to primary health care (PHC) in 26 low- and middle- income countries—comparing content of these policies with recommendations laid out in key global-level guidance frameworks such as the WHO PHC Monitoring Framework and Indicators (MFI). The tracker aims to improve understanding of policies for PHC in LMICs, add to the global conversation about how to design robust policy for PHC, and help users identify high-impact opportunities for action toward better health for all. This brief provides an overview of the findings and key takeaways from the tracker project, as well as information about methodology and limitations. Access the tracker at bit.ly/PHC_policy_tracker

PATH’s Asset Tracker project provides information on the status of scale-up of key evidence-based interventions that improve maternal, newborn, and child health, and nutrition (MNCHN) outcomes, and save lives. The MNCHN Asset Tracker dashboards allow users to quickly and efficiently compare different indicators across or within countries. This guide is a how-to for reading, packaging, and presenting data from PATH’s MNCHN Asset Tracker to inform advocacy efforts.

Medical devices are critical for detecting and treating many serious health conditions facing mothers and newborns, including anemia, pre-eclampsia, and neonatal respiratory distress. They also have expensive and complex training and maintenance needs and are thus challenging to manage effectively in low resource settings. However, there is a lack of systematic, cross-country, and cross-device data outlining these challenges and evaluating current device access.PATH led the Market Dynamics for Medical Devices (MD4MD) project to address this need, quantifying device availability and diagnosing key barriers to access for five priority countries and seven priority maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) devices. This report aims to summarize key findings from this research and outline an investment agenda for improving access to these critical devices.

Drawing on four decades of advocacy experience, PATH aims to play a catalytic role in advancing the practice of advocacy in health through fostering knowledge sharing, connection and collaboration among health advocates and other stakeholders. This learning brief highlights key takeaways from a virtual conversation between civil society advocates and a policymaker from Kenya, Uganda, and Burkina Faso about experiences and lessons in engaging policymakers for agenda and priority setting around PHC systems and policy implementation at national and regional levels.

S'appuyant sur quatre décennies d'expérience en matière de plaidoyer, PATH entend jouer un rôle de catalyseur pour promouvoir la pratique du plaidoyer dans le domaine de la santé en favorisant les échanges de connaissances, la connexion et la collaboration entre les acteurs de plaidoyer pour la santé et les autres parties prenantes. Ce dossier d'apprentissage met en lumière les principaux enseignements d'une conversation virtuelle entre les acteurs de la société civile et un responsable politique du Kenya, de l'Ouganda et du Burkina Faso sur les expériences et les leçons tirées de l'engagement des responsables politiques dans la définition de l'agenda et des priorités concernant les systèmes de SSP (soins de santé primaire) et la mise en œuvre des politiques aux niveaux national et régional.

Shigella is the leading bacterial cause of childhood diarrhea, and infections can have long-term effects on growth and development. No licensed Shigella vaccines currently exist, but several promising candidates in development could become available in a few years. PATH conducted a series of studies to better understand the public health value of potential Shigella vaccines and help inform decisions by international agencies, funders, vaccine developers, and national policymakers. This included a multi-country feasibility and acceptability study with national stakeholders and healthcare providers in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Nepal, and Vietnam to identify preferences and priorities for future Shigella vaccines. These briefs provide an overview of the results in each of the study countries.

As countries digitalize their health systems, health practitioners and ministries of health are learning what makes the development and introduction of digital health tools and approaches successful. However global policies and digital health investments often do not reflect the priorities and lessons that have emerged from these countries’ experiences.To bridge this gap, the Data Use Acceleration and Learning (DUAL) initiative collected learnings from its five focal countries and packaged them into a model for digital transformation for data use that evolves the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) eHealth Strategy Building Blocks.The DUAL model identifies ten core elements of a comprehensive approach to transforming a country’s health data systems and digital tools to advance data use. Rather than presenting a linear, step-by-step guide for digital transformation, it provides the “ingredients” for success that depend on and enable one another toward catalytic change.The DUAL report allows countries to identify the most appropriate starting point based on the priorities and digital maturity of their health systems. Each element is framed as a standalone chapter with key enabling factors, based on the evidence of what worked and what didn’t in the five focal countries DUAL studied. Specific actions are recommended for each enabling factor and country examples are used to illustrate the DUAL model at work.

In 2021, PATH undertook a subnational assessment in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, and Nigeria on barriers and enablers to uptake and implementation of essential maternal, newborn, and child health and nutrition medicines, devices, and interventions—what we call “assets.” We conducted facility spot-checks of asset availability and interviewed healthcare providers and district health management teams on challenges and successes in the journey to scale for each of the 14 assets. The Insights Briefs summarize the findings for each focus country.

The New Nets Project was established with the goal of making the latest resistance breaking net technology more widely available to malaria programs throughout Africa. As well as managing the rapid deployment of new nets to partner countries and negotiating a volume guarantee to reduce prices, the New Nets Project partners oversee randomized control trials and pilots. The evidence gathered from these will be used to ascertain the impact and cost-effectiveness of the nets and support an appropriate policy recommendation from the World Health Organization. The New Nets Project is co-funded by Unitaid and The Global Fund, with complementary funding provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID. The project is led by IVCC. This slide deck shares interim findings across the epidemiology, entomology, human behavior, and durability monitoring components of the five observational studies led by PATH.

The New Nets Project was established with the goal of making the latest resistance breaking net technology more widely available to malaria programs throughout Africa. As well as managing the rapid deployment of new nets to partner countries and negotiating a volume guarantee to reduce prices, the New Nets Project partners oversee randomized control trials and pilots. The evidence gathered from these will be used to ascertain the impact and cost-effectiveness of the nets and support an appropriate policy recommendation from the World Health Organization (WHO). The New Nets Project is co-funded by Unitaid and The Global Fund, with complementary funding provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID. The project is led by IVCC. This report shares interim findings from the five observational studies led by PATH.