Source: European Parliament
Through the Bêkou Trust Fund[1], the EU has supported extensive health interventions across 15 districts in the Central African Republic, encompassing 167 health facilities primarily in rural and underserved areas, improving access to healthcare for approximately 35% of the population.
Key outcomes include expanded access to healthcare, the provision of free healthcare services and improved availability of free medicines provided to vulnerable groups, including pregnant women, children under five, victims of sexual violence and the indigent population.
The fund also contributed to the construction and rehabilitation of pharmaceutical warehouses in underserved areas, strengthening storage capacity and the availability of medicines. These efforts significantly enhanced the availability of essential medicines in targeted health facilities.
The supply and the distribution of essential medicines was an integral part of the health programme. For instance, the fund allocated EUR 7.3 million to medicine supplies, transport and storage.
Medicines were procured and distributed by implementing partners, adhering to the EU’s quality standards for pharmaceuticals, to ensure safety and proper distribution.
All this work was implemented in close cooperation with the Ministry of Health, through performance-based financing to empower local health structures, enhance accountability in medicine distribution, and increase service utilisation rates.
To assess the efforts made under the fund, including in supplying and distributing medicines fairly and free of charge, the EU established a dedicated monitoring and learning system. It enabled the fund to monitor all actions and outputs financed by the interventions.
- [1] https://international-partnerships.ec.europa.eu/policies/programming/programmes/bekou-trust-fund_en