This whole-of-society approach has been useful in two ways: a) Various committees drawing membership from stakeholder groups have been put in place to provide strategic direction aligned to the national response strategy.
b) Benin has been able to leverage this multi-stakeholder group to raise USD40 Million from the World Bank and 3.7 Million USD from domestic resources (government and partners) to respond to #COVID19
2) Cross-country learning on treatment and general care of patients is important to avoid pitfalls. The Pharmaceutical agency in Benin issued guidelines on the use of Chloroquine, avoiding ideas that were not in line with scientific evidence of its efficacy in #COVID19 patients.
3) Set up a Scientific Committee from the onset of the response. Benin’s scientific committee is providing evidence-based information on efficacy of methods of treatment and containment/preventive measures. This has increased public buy-in to the government response
4) Strengthen pre-existing national accountability measures and communicate use of funds. For example, the official government website is publishing funds received from individuals and private organizations and the Economic Crime Court is open to deal with any misuse of funds
5) Make Public Financial Management Act flexible during pandemics to ensure funds move quickly but transparently to where they are needed. Ministry of Finance and the key committees are overseeing mobilization and deployment of funds
6) #Strategicpurchasing concepts are still not mainstream in Benin. There is need to support the government with data and tools for decision making on the best use of limited funds in the #COVID19 response while maintaining other essential services
7) Leverage regional bodies like @_AfricanUnion to reduce learning curve. These regional bodies could support member states with #strategicpurchasing, crises management and resource mobilization information to fast track responses now and for future pandemics
