• Senegal, U.S. sign $135 million health system support deal
• Funding targets surveillance, labs, workforce training and digital health systems
• Agreement aims to strengthen resilience despite workforce and financing challenges

Senegal and the United States signed, Friday, a five-year memorandum of understanding covering $135 million to support Senegal’s health system. Under the agreement, Dakar will mobilize $72 million, or about 53% of the total funding package, while Washington will provide $63 million.

According to Senegal’s Ministry of Health, the initiative is intended to strengthen several pillars of the health system, including epidemiological surveillance, laboratory capacity, workforce training, institutional capacity-building and digital transformation. Authorities said the program should help build a more resilient and effective system, better equipped to respond to future health challenges.

The agreement comes as Senegal has made notable progress in strengthening its health system. According to the World Health Organization, the country’s capacity to detect and respond to health emergencies rose from 20% in 2015 to 84.4% in 2020, reflecting a marked improvement in crisis management.

Despite those gains, several challenges remain, including the deployment of health workers, sustainable health financing, expansion of the laboratory network and modernization of information systems.

Ingrid Haffiny