From July 22 to 23, 2009, USAID/Benin’s Family Health Team held a two-day retreat in Cotonou to discuss the Mission’s health program for the 2011-2016 period. Catherine Andang, Program Officer and Acting Mission Director, participated in the brainstorming exercise. For two days, team members discussed ways to improve the effectiveness of the health program and support the GoB in achieving Millennium Development Goals. Megan Fotheringham, of USAID’s President’s Malaria Initiative Office, and Elizabeth Kibour, of the USAID Global Health Regional Country Support Office, both travelled from Washington, D.C. and provided valuable technical support in laying the groundwork for the design of a new USAID health strategy for Benin. Participants in the meeting identified strengths, weaknesses, challenges, opportunities, and future contributions of the USAID health program. The retreat outcomes will materialize in a draft of USAID/Benin’s new conceptual framework and health strategy to be developed before the year ends.

Just prior to the retreat, on July 21, USAID/Benin organized a meeting with health sector stakeholders to identify key challenges and gaps in Benin’s health sector and to highlight USAID/Benin’s comparative advantage. Public and private sector donors, NGOs, USAID implementing partners, bilateral donors, UN organizations, and officials from the Ministry of Health participated. Health officials presented the priorities that the Government of Benin has articulated in its ten-year health development plan. In her opening remarks, Catherine Andang, Program Officer and Acting USAID/Director, emphasized that USAID/Benin seeks to align its health program to Benin’s priorities. She added that USAID is positioning its health program to better serve the needs of disadvantaged Beninese populations and assist the country achieve the Millennium Development Goals.