Dakar, 8 November 2013 -- The Regional Directors of the Harmonization for Health in Africa – a coalition of international agencies working together to improve health in the African Region will meet in Dakar, Senegal from 14 -15 November 2013 to discuss a range of issues aimed at strengthening coordination and harmonization of actions at country and regional levels. This event will be preceded by a meeting of health experts from 12-13 November 2013.

The purpose of the Regional Directors meeting is to review progress made and identify lessons learnt in the implementation of the HHA 2013 Action Plan and define priorities for 2014. Participants will also deliberate on how to strengthen coordination and harmonization of their activities at country and regional levels, examine and approve the HHA monitoring and evaluation framework, and discuss the place of HHA in the post 2015 Development Agenda.

HHA is a partnership created in 2006 to provide a concerted and coordinated technical support to countries for strengthening their health systems in line with the principles of harmonization and alignment to national priorities, and scaling up the attainment of the health related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). HHA commits technical and financial partners to translate the Paris Declaration on the Aid Effectiveness and the Algiers Declaration on Health Financing into concrete actions.

Progress made so far by the partnership, include supporting the strengthening of health systems in countries and advocacy for optimizing health sector resources.

HHA comprises the following partners. These are: WHO, African Development Bank, World Bank, UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women, France, JICA, NORAD, USAID, Global Fund, PNMCH, GHWA.
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For more information, please contact:
Khalifa Mbengue: +221 77 545 83 81, mbenguek [at] who.int (mbenguek[at]who[dot]int);
Mariam Tendou Kamara: +221 77 740 47 89, mariam.kamara [at] unwomen.org (mariam[dot]kamara[at]unwomen[dot]org);
Flavienne Issembè: +221 77 709 69 62, issembe [at] who.int (issembe[at]who[dot]int)