SP4PHC in Burkina Faso
The Government of Burkina Faso is driving health financing reforms amidst significant political change and insecurity. Through the SP4PHC project, ThinkWell supports the implementation of these reforms, specifically Gratuité, a policy to eliminate out-of-pocket payments for maternal, newborn, and child health services for women and children under five. ThinkWell partners with the Technical Secretariat for Health Financing Reforms (ST-RFS) of the Ministry of Health to tackle emerging challenges, fortify financial control and validation mechanisms, and ensure sustainability of the Gratuité scheme. Additionally, ThinkWell is supporting the government to establish a minimum digital ecosystem to provide policymakers and public sector health practitioners with better access to data to support decision-making.
ThinkWell’s accomplishments in Burkina Faso
- Supported the Ministry of Health to improve implementation of the Gratuité policy. Our support has contributed to continuous growth in the use of free family planning (FP) and maternal, newborn and child health services nationwide, improving access and equity across regions and poverty levels. Early work was based on the learning generated from our overview of the Gratuité policy, conducted together with RESADE.
- Strengthened the control and validation systems for Gratuité, which increased the efficiency of the scheme and improved quality of services.
- Revitalized the Gratuité program’s routine feedback bulletin after a three-year hiatus, facilitating transparency and enabling a swift response to implementation challenges.
- Undertook an assessment of the FP Gratuité pilot, which became a key advocacy resource and informed the national rollout of free FP in July 2020.
Current Strategies and Activities
Strategy One: Support effective Gratuité implementation and coherence with NHI.
- Assist MOH in designing and implementing reforms to strengthen Gratuité.
- Contribute to the development of a road map for transition of Gratuité from the Ministry of Health to CNAMU (Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Maladie Universelle – the National Health Insurance Fund).
Strategy Two: Support knowledge production and strengthen data utilization to enhance PHC purchasing.
- Support the design and implementation of a Minimal Digital Ecosystem to enable improved management of provider and health system performance.
- Decentralize Gratuité data management by empowering front-line health workers to enter, analyze, and monitor Gratuité data independently.
- Support regional learning initiatives on the removes of user fees (including FP).
Strategy Three: Increase financing for purchasing arrangements targeting PHC services.
- Support public access to Gratuité data to strengthen accountability by producing a routine feedback bulletin highlighting key improvements and challenges.
- Increase and improve local government resource allocation to PHC.
- Explore policy options for sustainable resource mobilization for PHC.
Country Factsheets
The three factsheets below serve as a reference and aim to visualize the latest data and trends on purchasing family planning, maternal, and newborn health services, and a broader overview of purchasing in Burkina Faso. Each factsheet also highlights some of the activities the SP4PHC country team is working on with local stakeholders within that topic area. These factsheets are updated annually (latest in May 2021).
Health Purchasing Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health Family Planning
Featured Learning Products
Effectiveness of the Gratuité user fee exemption policy on utilization and outcomes of maternal, newborn, and child health services in conflict-affected districts of Burkina Faso from 2013 to 2018: A pre-post analysis
This research paper investigates the impact of Burkina Faso’s Gratuité policy, a user fee exemption initiative for maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) services. Conducted in conflict-affected districts of Burkina Faso, we found that the policy significantly boosted the use of MNCH services. Notably, there were significant increases in sixth day postnatal care visits for women, new consultations for children under one year and children aged 1-4 years, and treatment of uncomplicated malaria cases in children under five years. The findings highlight the crucial need for sustained funding for such policies, especially in conflict-affected areas, to prevent the reversal of these health gains.
Devolution of the Health Sector to Communes: A Misfit in the National Health System Governance Framework and Management Shortfalls in Burkina Faso
Over the past five decades, subnational government units around the world have assumed some extent of decision-making authority. This often occurs through devolution, a reform that typically involves the transfer of different government functions related to sectors, such as health, from the central government to subnational units. Devolution often entails changes to public financial management (PFM) rules, systems, and processes. Public funds lie at the heart of sustainable health financing policy for achieving UHC. The World Health Organization (WHO) and ThinkWell jointly developed a series of case studies to explore the implications of devolution for health financing, with a deep dive into PFM issues. This case study details health financing and health-related PFM processes in Burkina Faso, a country where decentralized governance was introduced 30 years ago when the country established a democratic government.
Review of control mechanisms for the user fee exemption policy, Gratuité, in Burkina Faso
In Burkina Faso, SP4PHC works closely with the government on its user fee exemption scheme, known as Gratuité, which provides a defined package of FP and MNCH services free of charge to pregnant women and children under five years old. ThinkWell activities in Burkina Faso include providing technical support to the Technical Secretariat for Universal Health Coverage (ST-CSU) to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of control and verification procedures for Gratuité. The control mechanism of the Gratuité program, instituted to ensure that high-quality services are delivered free of charge, is run by the Ministry of Health (MOH) ST-CSU. A review of the Gratuité program’s control mechanism was conducted by the ST-CSU and ThinkWell. The purpose of this brief is to document the Gratuité control mechanism and capture lessons for its improvement.
Other Learning Products
Related resources
SP4PHC aims to improve how governments purchase primary health care services, with a focus on family planning and maternal, newborn, and child health. SP4PHC is supported by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.