Guinea_Bissau: NPHI Develpment Project
The armed conflict that ravaged Guinea-Bissau in the late 1990s disrupted economic growth, damaged national infrastructure, and impoverished the country. As with other sectors, the public health system is currently fragmented among several organizations, each with its own budgets, priorities, and infrastructure. Efforts to carry out core public health functions have been constrained by the resulting lack of coordination among programs, weaknesses in laboratory capacity, inadequate human resources and infrastructure, lack of integrated surveillance systems, and research unlinked to national priorities.
However, some key elements -- field epidemiology, research, training -- remain in place. And, most important, the country's leaders are championing efforts to rebuild the public health system. Propelled by the enthusiastic leadership of the Ministry of Health, a team in Guinea-Bissau worked with peers from Brazil's Fiocruz to develop a strategic plan for combining much of their current capacity into an NPHI and bringing the components together in a central location. The resulting IANPHI project will position the new institute to secure support from other donors and serve as a model for other low-resource nations.
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