In Senegal, FHI 360 builds the capacity of individuals and institutions to deliver comprehensive, integrated services that strengthen the national health system, promote transparency and accountability across government agencies and increase access to quality education.
Since the early 1990s, FHI 360 has partnered with the Ministry of Health, National AIDS Council and other agencies to strengthen HIV/AIDS prevention interventions. Our programs have developed integrated packages of care to address HIV and tuberculosis (TB), provided HIV testing and treatment of sexually transmitted infections, and worked to reduce stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV or AIDS.
Today, FHI 360 continues to build partnerships with both government and nongovernmental organizations to address HIV/AIDS and TB. We provide targeted technical assistance that helps maintain a low national HIV prevalence rate, reduce transmission in high-prevalence areas and increase the quality and availability of treatment, care and support for people living with HIV or TB/HIV co-infection. Our programs strengthen the national health system by developing local solutions that result in sustainable financing of HIV treatment and guaranteeing microcredit loans for people living with the disease.
FHI 360 also has a long history of increasing access to family planning and reproductive health services in Senegal. We facilitated the introduction of new contraceptives through feasibility and acceptability studies on such methods as hormonal implants (in the 1980s) and more recently, Depo-Provera in a subcutaneous injection device (Uniject). We followed up by putting research to practice to improve contraceptive prevalence. Today, FHI 360 collaborates with the Ministry of Health’s Division of Reproductive Health to coordinate and monitor Senegal’s national plan for family planning. The plan was developed as part of the Ouagadougou Partnership, which reaffirmed the commitment of Francophone West African governments and donors to increase access to quality family planning and reproductive health information and services.
Since 2003, we have expanded our programs beyond HIV and family planning to include projects that improve the quality and governance of middle school education through curriculum development, teacher training and the introduction of new information technologies. FHI 360 in Senegal is also implementing a peace and governance project to enhance democracy, promote good governance and advance national reconciliation. Our experts work to strengthen regulatory and oversight agencies, support key legislative reforms and bolster the national anticorruption framework.