Get in touch

Creation

Burkina Faso Chapter was created in December 2020. As of July 16, 2021, it has legal existence under registration number N000001168101. To date, the chapter has around 100 health professionals, whose activism is motivated by gender equity in health and women’s leadership in global health. The mission of the Burkina Faso’s WGH chapter is to strengthen women’s leadership of the Burkina Faso health system.
Today, our chapter is still in the process of structuring itself, and its 2024-2028 strategic plan, currently being finalized, will enable us to implement innovative strategies to meet the challenges of gender equity and women’s leadership in healthcare in Burkina Faso. In addition, partnerships with local and international organizations will be formalized to work in synergy with the various stakeholders in the country.

Our Objectives

The main objective of the Burkina Faso chapter is to promote the leadership of women in the health sector. To achieve this main objective, we aim to:

• Enable access to services for women involved in the health sector, in decision-making positions at both the national and international levels
• Promote women’s leadership in the health sector through training, networking, communication, knowledge transfer and exchange
• Promote the right to health and better living conditions for women through screening for genital cancers (cervical and breast…) and free of charge or subsidized treatment of diagnosed cases
• Develop financial and technical partnerships to apply for grants in the global health sector for research, especially in relation to forgotten diseases in our region
• Conduct research on current public health issues in Burkina Faso and abroad: implementation of universal health coverage, resilience to climate change, security and migration crisis 
• Provide context-specific evidence for decision-making 
• Host national and international conferences to enable women leaders to collaborate and  develop sustainable partnerships 
• Develop solidarity among the chapter members 

What we do

Since its legal existence as an association, Burkina Faso has initiated actions to formalize its partnership with the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene and the ministry of Gender and Human Rights. As part of the cancer control effort in Burkina Faso, on April 26, 2022, the chapter supported the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene (MSHP) in launching the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine campaign and introducing the cervical cancer prevention program into the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI). A memorandum of understanding has been established with the MSHP since September 2022.  They also participated in the validation workshop of the Ministry of Health’s gender action plan

We highlight women within the chapter who are models of leadership in the health sector. For that, we produced 10 video clips to show who they are, what they do, and how they impact their environment and global health. Some of these videos have already been published.

Watch videos

During the 2022 Pink October campaign, WGH Burkina Faso led a media campaign on breast cancer in partnership with the MSHP and the coordination of the women’s associations

This consisted to :

• A press conference on November 3, 2022, to present the chapter objectives to the populations through the public media, followed by a review of the commitments made by the government of Burkina Faso at the Generation Equality Forum (GEF) held in Paris from June 30 to July 2, 2021.
• On November 4, 2022 a panel was organised on “Breast cancer : current situation in Burkina Faso” to draw up the current situation of breast cancer in Burkina Faso and to inform the population on screening and care measures. During this panel, a demonstration of breast palpation, free screening for cervical cancer, diabetes and its risk factors were conducted. Link to the “ Mousso News” communication. Learn more.

Our leadership 

• Dr Marie Madeleine Rouamba, National Coordinator
• Dr Diane Gwladys Bénébamba Dondbzanga, General Secretary
• Dr Michèle Barry, Deputy General Secretary
• Cécile Thiombiano / Yougbare, Communications Coordinator
• Bibata Wassonguema, Deputy Communications Coordinator
• Dr Annick Raissa Sidibé, Advocacy Coordinator
• Dr Marie Michèle Dahany, Deputy Advocacy Coordinator
• Dr Elise Diendéré, Program and Evaluation Coordinator
• Dr Fadima Bocoum, Deputy Program and Evaluation Coordinator
• Jöelle Millogo, Treasurer
• Lydia Saloucou, Assistant Treasurer

Major achievements

• Chapter launch press conference to publicize the association’s mission and recall the commitments made by the Burkina Faso government at the Generation Equality Forum in Paris held from June 30 to July 2, 2021.
• Contributing to the war effort by assisting internally displaced women and girls with food supplies and screening for female cancers, hypertension and diabetes.
• The very remarkable partnership with the Burkina Faso Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene, which began in 2022 with the signing of a partnership agreement. Since then, the Burkina Faso chapter has been supported in its activities by the Ministry. This was evidenced by the meeting at the World Health Assembly in Geneva in May 2023 between the Minister of Health and Public Hygiene, Dr Robert Kargougou, and his team, the WGH-BF national coordinator, Dr Marie Madeleine Rouamba, Dr Annick Sidibé, WGH-BF advocacy secretary, Lydia Saloukou, WGH-BF deputy treasurer, and the WGH executive director, Dr Roopa Dhatt. During the meeting, the Minister reaffirmed the Burkinabe government’s commitment to taking concrete action to promote women’s leadership, particularly in the field of health.
• Capacity building for our members on women’s health leadership, advocacy and universal health coverage.
• Habibou Ouédraogo’s participation in the webinar organized by WGH Global on “Bridging the Gap for Gender Responsive Universal Health Coverage”.
• Awareness-raising and communication campaigns during Pink October and the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, often accompanied by screening for female cancers, diabetes and hypertension.
• We have supported young women’s associations in promoting female leadership.
• Presentation of WGH-BF to decentralized structures in the Hauts Bassins region of Burkina Faso.
  

Join us

Any woman or man, or any legal entity respecting the chapter statutes and willing to fight for the achievement of its objectives, is eligible to join WGH Burkina Faso. The chapter is also open to cooperation and collaboration with any non-political organization, association or institution whose goals are similar to its own.