Guinea Minister of Health, Dr. Abdourahmane Diallo.

Guinea’s Minister of Health, Dr. Abdourahmane Diallo, recently presided over the extraordinary meeting of the Coordination Committee of Guinea’s Health Sector, during which the final report of the institutional and organizational audit of the Ministry of Health was launched. The audit is part of a focused effort by the Ministry of Health to strengthen the health system in the aftermath of the Ebola crisis.

“We are pleased to be sharing the report of this institutional and organizational audit with you today in the spirit of transparency,” said Minister Diallo at the launch in Conakry on December 21st. The meeting included senior officials from the Ministry of Health, members of the Health Sector Coordination Committee as well as directors of regional health centers, key local and international partners, and representatives of civil society.

Barbara Dickerson, USAID’s Mission Director to Guinea and Sierra Leone, said:

“Mr. Minister, I reiterate the determination of USAID to work together with other partners to support you in implementing the roadmap to improve the functioning of the Ministry of Health and the health system, and to strengthen its capacity to respond to crises such as the recent Ebola one.”

The audit analyzed the institutional, organizational and functional factors influencing the performance of the Ministry of Health. It analyzed the influence of the economic, institutional, political and cultural environments, the organization and functioning of the various structures of the Ministry, governance of the health sector, management of human and financial resources, the pharmaceutical sector, and health infrastructure and equipment.

The Minister added:

“We look forward to working together with all our partners and coordinating all our efforts to put into practice the audit’s recommendations in order to improve our performance in the pursuit of universal access to quality health services by all Guineans.”

The audit also includes recommendations that correspond to these areas for implementation by the Ministry in the both short and medium term.

The audit was commissioned at the request of the Ministry of Health in close cooperation with its partners in the health sector. It was conducted by a team of experts co-funded by the European Union and the United States Agency of International Development (USAID) through the Health Finance and Governance Project. The EU provided six consultants and HFG four.

In addition to the audit report, a roadmap for the implementation of the recommendations was shared with all participants. The roadmap aims to guide the Ministry of Health in addressing the gaps identified by the audit through a set of activities, following a suggested timeline, and benchmarked against specific indicators to measure progress.