Rapid Assessment of the Health System in Benin, April 2006
At the request of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a four-person team conducted a rapid assessment of the Benin health system April 17–29, 2006. The team was composed of team leader Grace Adeya of the Rational Pharmaceutical Management (RPM) Plus Program, Alphonse Bigirimana of MEASURE Evaluation, Karen Cavanaugh of USAID/Health, Infectious Diseases and Nutrition (HIDN), and Lynne Miller Franco of the Quality Assurance Project (QAP/Workforce Development). Alphonse Akpamoli, a local consultant, provided assistance with interviews, documents, and logistics, as well as orientation to the team. In addition, a ministerial technical committee provided overall guidance. This committee was composed of senior directors and was chaired by the General Secretary.
The purpose of the assessment was to assist the Ministry of Health (MoH) in identifying strengths and weaknesses in the health system and providing reflections on priority areas for health systems strengthening in the development of the new National Health Development Plan and National Health Policy and Strategy documents. The assessment attempts to provide an integrated view of the health system by examining the range of health system components (governance/stewardship, health financing, health service delivery, human resources, pharmaceutical management, information systems, and private sector engagement), analyzing the most important questions about each component, and synthesizing the effect of performance of these components on the system overall.
