We’ve been proud to see the Government of Burkina Faso’s commitment to community health. Following more than a year of scoping and lighter-touch support, in July 2021 we inked a 3-year partnership with government to develop a national eCHIS tool for the country’s 18,000 CHWs and their supervisors that builds on what our partner Terre des hommes has already achieved at the facility level.

In Burkina Faso, Living Goods is focusing on supporting the development of new digital tools and approaches that enable the use of data for decision-making for community health. We’re also supporting the development of financial and technical roadmaps for digitization, and training content to optimize CHW performance. The government has committed to providing CHWs with training, commodities, and monthly stipends. We made strong progress in 2021 with our partner Dimagi to refine the platform’s design and conduct user acceptance tests.

At the same time, the country’s security situation is challenging. On January 23, Burkina Faso experienced its third successful coup d’état, with instability displacing 1.6 million people and resulting in the deaths of 2,000 people in 2021 alone. Our work has not yet been impacted, as our staff have been working from home and conducting remote meetings. We are encouraged by the relative calm and reassurances the army and interim government have provided to donors that they would honor all past MoH commitments. More than ever before, this instability means the people of Burkina Faso need quality health care they can access from CHWs safely at home.

We are excited about the promise of the digital tool we’ve been helping to develop and the launch of learning sites in Burkina Faso. We had previously planned to establish learning sites in Ziniare and Manga districts by June 2022 that would support a total of 800 CHWs. While the coup will likely delay that timeline, we remain committed to supporting the country as it moves forward.