Key messages
While several elections will take place in 2015, the region is experiencing a mix of progress and setbacks, with encouraging transition in Burkina Faso occurring on the back of an alleged coup attempt in Gambia and the escalation of violence in Nigeria.
The region has demonstrated a certain degree of resilience towards the economic impact from Ebola outbreak and falling commodity prices. Such impacts have been mitigated and offset by the increasing diversification of West African economies.
Although the Ebola outbreak is being successfully contained, the health crisis has revealed the full breath of structural weaknesses of West African health systems. Reforming health sector will be key to support the human and economic development in the region.
This 5th edition is dedicated to the health sector in West Africa. The Ebola outbreak that hit the region last year unveiled underlying shortcomings of various West African health systems. Beyond the crisis, structural weaknesses explain the difficulty experienced by most affected countries to deal with health challenges are regularly confronted with, such as identified by the Millennium Development Goals in 2000. The thematic note provides a brief overview of the health situation and identifies the main obstacles to the improvement of health systems in the region. It then illustrates a number of opportunities that would enable the region to provide better health services, and contribute to the countries’ human and economic development.
The West Africa Monitor is produced by the country economists of the West Africa Regional Department (ORWA) and Nigeria departments (ORNG). This issue benefited from the collaboration with the Human and Social Development Department (OSHD). The report has been coordinated by Emanuele Santi, Chief Regional Economist (ORWA), Mohamed El Dahshan and Maxime Weigert, consultants (ORWA), under the overall supervision of Janvier Litse, Acting Vice President of Operations (ORVP) et Regional Director (ORWA), Ousmane Dore, Director (ORNG), Franck Perrault, Director (ORVP), and Ginette Nzau-Muteta, Manager of Health Division (OSHD). The report has benefited from the financial contribution of the Nigerian and Canadian governments through their Bank’s administered Trust Fund.
