By Awa Sowe
The Directorate of Planning and Information (DPI) at the Ministry of Health (MOH) recently concluded a four-day Joint Annual Review meeting at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Hotel. The theme for this year’s event is ‘building partnerships for effective communication and evidence-based performance to achieve universal health coverage’
The annual event accords the Ministry and stakeholders the opportunity to take stock of the challenges with a view to map out recommendations to address them.
The Minister of Health, Dr Ahmad Lamin Samateh, said the gathering is a key component of the reform agenda of the Ministry and the event has been staged since 2017 to serve as means of improving coordination to enhance performance.
Minister Samateh mentioned that over the years, the event had advanced to become a tool for mutual accountability and transparency for government and development partners, adding that the objective of the event is to assess the performance, improve implementation as well as to identify bottlenecks.
He lay emphasizes on both the successes registered by the ministry as well as challenges, calling on participants to be ready to share loopholes and existing gaps for redress.
Dr. Samateh draw attention to the importance of health financing in achieving meaningful results, adding that despite the successes registered thus far, there still exists challenges.
The permanent Secretary MOH, Mr. Muhammed Lamin Jaiteh, explained that the meeting does not only accord the ministry to take stock of its activities and programmes, but also serves as a period during which the Ministry interacts with stakeholders and partners .
‘’The meeting,’’ he went on, ‘’is also designed to assess the performance of various programme areas, region and hospitals over the past years and provide relevant information for policy and planning purposes’’.
“This annual reviews have been viewed as a key component in many countries as it became a popular mechanism for improving donor and partners’ coordination with a view to creating an enabling environment for an efficient and responsive health system,’’ PS noted.
He added that the outcome helps guide health programmes and address priorities in achieving strategic objectives set out in the national Health Sector Strategic Plan 2021 -2025.
Dr. Desta Tiruneh, World Health Organization (WHO) applauds the Ministry especially the Department of Planning and Information for taking the lead.
‘’The event,’’ he added, ‘’would enable us evaluate the progress the health has made in the past years, following the completion of the National Health Strategic Plan’’.
Dr. Tiruneh noted that The Gambia, like most of the countries in the world, had gone through a challenging period in the past years. He however noted that collectively, the country was able to mitigate the devastating impact of covid-19 had on the economy.
Director of Health Services, Dr, Mustapha Bittaye described the event as an important one in the lifecycle of the programmes and activities of the ministry.
He said the event accorded them the opportunity to take stock of the activities as well as how well the ministry had fared in the past years.
“It also gives us the opportunity to interact with different partners and stakeholders so that they know what we have been engaged and also have their inputs on what should be done,’’ he noted.
He urged participants to give their best during the sessions for a fruitful discussion to be able to map a way forward.
