The
Agency for Universal Health Coverage in Senegal has launched a new digital platform
SunuCMU — sunucmu.com
By extending this process of democratisation to provide access to health to all
countries on the African continent, Senegal aims to be a leader in this field
SunuCMU is entirely a Senegalese digital platform, the first of its kind to
have been fully designed and developed by a public agency on a global scale.
Founded
in 2015, the Agency for Universal Health Coverage in Senegal – CMU)
(SUNUCMU.com) is part of the government’s programme to accelerate the country’s
economic and social development.
Senegal, alongside Ghana and Rwanda, is leading the way in Africa in the
advancement of universal health coverage.
Kenya, on the other hand is piloting the Universal Healthcare Coverage under President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four agenda.
The pilot projects are in Kisumu, Nyeri, Machakos and Isiolo.
Health Cabinet Secretary said the the UHC programme will focus on a Primary Health Care Approach and will include scaling up Immunization Services; Maternal and Child Health Services, family planning, antenatal and postnatal care services; Prevention of water borne, vector borne, TB and HIV and sexually transmitted diseases and improving nutrition of women who conceive and follow this through to the first five years of a child’s life.
DIGITISATION
At a time when digital infrastructure is developing, technology has become
essential, digitisation of payments as part of its latest phase of active
development. It aims to make the system even more efficient and sustainable.
The launch of SUNUCMU.com is part of the agenda for the digitisation of payments which Senegal initiated in November 2018. Its main objective is to enhance the quality of life of its population. Its development was entirely undertaken by national start-ups.
Senegal’s new social welfare system is innovative, easily accessible and universal
to the extent that the public authorities aim, on one hand, to integrate the
small-scale market production sector (informal sector) into the social security
system and, on the other, achieve universal health coverage. Welfare protection schemes are, therefore,
required to continue the process of modernisation and, at the same time, expand
their scope and offer more services.
Mouhamed Mahi SY, the Agency director of IT systems said, “ With the digital
transformation of the CMU, we have set ourselves the challenge of achieving
more than 75 per cent health coverage in 24 months. We were delighted with the
record level of adoption during the awareness-raising sessions with mutual
insurers in the region; this has demonstrated that the added value which we are
striving to deliver is in tune with expectations in the field.”
