Responding to public health priorities

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The international agenda for health for a long time focused on infectious diseases and reproductive, maternal, neonatal and child health. With the outbreak of the global pandemic of HIV/AIDS in the 1990s, the international community scaled up its investment on these issues, which were at the time the top priority for international health.

However, the vertical approach adopted to overcome the devastation of major pandemics (in addition to HIV/AIDS, this term refers to tuberculosis and malaria) has, at the same time, been implemented to the detriment of strengthening health systems and taking into account other diseases and public health priorities.

Yet, with the exception of a handful of regions or countries, the world is experiencing an epidemiological transition which is combined with an improvement in the hygiene, nutrition and organisation of health services and a transformation of causes of death. Infectious diseases are gradually taking second place in view of the trend in the global burden of disease. They are gradually declining, while chronic and degenerative diseases and accidents are having an increasingly significant impact on global mortality and morbidity.

Although the agenda for infectious diseases and RMNCH is still of the utmost importance, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, the incidence of chronic diseases – cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, etc. – is now the priority agenda for global health. In addition, there are other public health priorities, which include mental health, obesity, the treatment of injuries and accidents, addictions, environmental health, etc.

All these together are the public health priorities which Expertise France is working to gradually cover, with a focus on international health security, non-communicable diseases and reproductive, maternal and neonatal health. A real public health approach is necessary in order to take effective action on these issues. It requires developing ambitious public policies (preventive, therapeutic, research and innovation aspects, etc.), such as for the fight against smoking, and taking action on the social determinants of health.

In order to meet these public health priorities, Expertise France has developed several innovative projects. Examples of its action include:

  • Strengthening the management of childhood cancers in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire Mali and Morocco (project financed by the French Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs);
     
  • Reducing the impact of smoking on health, in particular on morbidity and mortality in Burkina Faso (project financed by the French Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs);
     
  • Improving maternal and child health and reducing maternal, neonatal and child mortality in Chad with PASST 2, a project financed by AFD.

Nos projets dans ce domaine

Pour répondre à ces priorités de santé publique, Expertise France a développé plusieurs projets innovants. A titre d’exemples, on peut citer son action en matière de :


De renforcement de la prise en charge des cancers pédiatriques au Burkina Faso, au Cameroun, en Côte d’Ivoire au Mali, au Maroc et en République centrafricaine, via un projet financé par le ministère des Solidarités et de la Santé et le ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères ;


De réduction de l’incidence du tabac sur la santé, en particulier sur la morbidité et la mortalité au Burkina Faso, via le projet Voussongo, financé par le ministère des Solidarités et de la Santé et le ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères ;

Découvrir Voussongo


D'amélioration de la santé de la mère et de l’enfant et de diminution de la mortalité maternelle, néonatale et infantile au Tchad, via le projet PASST2, financé par l’Agence française de développement (AFD).

Découvrir le PASST2

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