Burkina Faso / Health reform: Modernising the public health code to ensure equitable access to healthcare
The Burkinabe Government is continuing its overhaul of public policies, this time in the critical health sector. The Council of Ministers examined a bill establishing the Public Health Code and agreed to transmit it to the People’s Legislative Assembly. The move was welcomed as a major step forward for all actors and beneficiaries of the national health system.
This text is a long-awaited revision of Law No. 23/94/ADP of May 19, 1994, which has been in force for more than three decades. Over the years, several of its provisions have become obsolete in the face of changing health needs, medical technologies, and public expectations.
By undertaking this reform, the State is equipping itself with an updated tool capable of better regulating the sector and guaranteeing equitable, quality care for all Burkinabe.
The innovations introduced by this new code reflect a vision resolutely turned toward the future.
The text strengthens the provision of care at all levels of the system, incorporating dimensions that had previously been little or not at all taken into account: palliative and end-of-life care, alternative medicines, medically assisted reproduction, and self-care.
The possibility of carrying out laboratory tests in care settings and outside traditional laboratories responds to a concrete need to bring services closer to the population.
Another notable advance is the creation of a public health reserve corps, which will strengthen the country’s response capacity in the face of health emergencies and crises.
The bill also enshrines Burkina Faso’s entry into the digital era of health, with the establishment of a personal medical record, the development of telemedicine, e-pharmacy, and a unique health identifier for each citizen.
These tools should facilitate medical follow-up and improve coordination among health professionals.
Finally, the inclusion of community health consolidates the local grounding of this reform by enhancing the role of community workers and relays in the most remote areas.
By modernizing its legal framework in this way, Burkina Faso is sending a strong signal: that of a State that places the health of its population at the heart of its priorities, with the ambition of building a system that is at once more inclusive, more resilient, and more oriented toward innovation.
Papa IBRAHIMA
