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Senegal

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In Senegal, one-third of women report they have an unmet need for family planning services; malaria infections are common; and many communities, particularly the urban poor, need better reproductive health services. For over a decade, IntraHealth International has collaborated with the Senegalese government and local partners to try to meet these needs.

The USAID/Senegal Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health/Family Planning/Malaria Project

In collaboration with the Senegal Ministry of Health and Prevention, the National Malaria Control Program, and the President’s Malaria Initiative, this project aims to:

  • Work with health care providers to hone their clinical, leadership, and management skills to manage local health facilities and offer high-quality health services in a decentralized environment through a mentoring approach called tutorat
  • Train more providers to offer family planning counseling and contraceptives, including long-acting methods, and inform providers about policies and protocols relevant to their work
  • Encourage health facilities to offer a package of services that integrates mother-and-child health services with other reproductive health services, including family planning and nutritional information and advice
  • Engage and educate communities through public campaigns about family planning as a lifestyle; encourage men’s acceptance and use of family planning; and empower women and young girls to make informed decisions regarding their own health
  • Collaborate with local parent-teacher associations and other local organizations to prevent unintended teenage pregnancy, encourage girls to stay in school, and stop gender-based violence in schools through education campaigns and “zero tolerance” violence policies
  • Form partnerships with private health care providers and businesses to encourage them to make reproductive health services, including family planning, available to their employees and the wider community
  • Train health care providers to improve their knowledge of malaria prevention, diagnosis, management, and treatment, especially for pregnant women and young children, and to help educate patients about the importance of malaria prevention and appropriate treatment.

Mobilize against Malaria Initiative

The Mobilize against Malaria Initiative, which is funded by Pfizer Inc., works in Tambacounda—the largest and most impoverished of Senegal’s 14 regions—to:

  • Ensure that community health workers have the information and skills they need to prevent, manage, and treat malaria cases
  • Educate communities about the dangers of malaria and the importance of prevention measures and encourage community members to seek timely treatment.

In 2006, Senegal’s National Malaria Control Program developed national guidelines that encourage community health workers to diagnose and treat malaria with Artemisinin combination therapy. This initiative aims to reinforce the role of community health workers as an appropriate first stop for information and treatment for malaria. The project also supports community health workers to sharpen their patient counseling skills, understand appropriate treatment courses and common side effects, refer patients to another health provider when necessary, and manage supplies and ensure malaria medication is available. The initiative also engages in public education campaigns about malaria, which stress the importance of seeking care within 24 hours of onset of malaria-like symptoms, especially for young children, and taking all medication as prescribed.

Senegal Urban Reproductive Health Initiative

In collaboration with the Senegal Ministry of Health and Prevention and key consortium partners, the Senegal Urban Reproductive Health Initiative works to reach low-income communities in urban areas with family planning information and services and to encourage people to consider family planning as socially acceptable. The initiative also aims to:

  • Integrate family planning counseling and services into existing maternal and child health programs
  • Work with high-volume urban clinics to improve the quality of their family planning services
  • Partner with public and private health care providers to make family planning services more accessible and more widely used
  • Collaborate with local and religious leaders to educate communities about family planning and its benefits
  • Work with policymakers to make family planning a national priority.

This project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Past Projects

Contact

Elhadji Babacar Gueye, MD
Country Representative and Chief of Party, Maternal, Neonatal,
and Child Health/Family Planning/Malaria Project, Senegal
bgueye@intrahealth.org
221-33-869-7494

More information is available in the country brief.