1. West African Health Economics Network Réseau des Economistes de la Santé de l’Afrique de l’Oues t

2. In the Beginning Two workshops organized by WHO in 1997 and 1998 on WTP and Economic Evaluation of health Interventions in Cape Town in South Africa, recognized the urgent need of strengthening the capacity of health economists in terms of research, training and policy analysis. In that perspective, the Health Economics Unit in UCT South Africa took the lead in promoting an initiative of health economics and policy analysis in SSA region. –Unfortunately, the action of the initiative only covered the region of South Africa.

3. The list of participants in the 3 rd conference of the iHEA held in York, July 2001 showed that very few health economists or economist working in health from West Africa attended the conference. –Less than 15 people from West Africa were members of the association. Finally, the Western part of the continent offers a reciprocal advantage of the use of French and English languages. Hence, the necessity of establishing a network in Western Africa to complement the effort for the promotion of health economics in Africa became a high priority. Concept note was prepared in 2002 by Omer Mensah, Obinna Onwujekwe and Felicien Hounye with input from Okorosobo and Kirigia in WHO-Afro

4. Objectives of WAHEN To promote and sustain the understanding and knowledge of the application of health economics and policy methods in West Africa with a view to expanding its knowledge frontiers and its use in evidence-based policy-making in the sub-region.

5. Share skills and experiences among existing health economists and economist working in the health sector in the region. Build research and training capacity in health economist in West Africa, Create a critical mass of researchers and end-users of health economics methodologies and outputs Develop and standardize appropriate health economics methodologies for the West Africa region Embark on multi-country collaborative research projects.

6. Overall structure Steering committee with a director and deputy director plus two reps from each country A coordinating institution with an administrator to maintain database and regular communication People and Organisations joining WAHEN on individual basis to do so through their country steering committee Country associations joining WAHEN –in the long term People without country reps on the steering committee will join directly Legal – registration Banking

7. Steering Committee Co-ordination country 1country 2country 3country 4 country 5

8. Inaugural Meeting Held between 14 th and 17 th August 2007 in Enugu, Nigeria Hosted by the Health Policy Research Group (HPRG), University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus through a grant from WHO/AFRO. The meeting was entitled “Promoting Health through Health Economics”. 37 participants from Ghana, Nigeria and Republic of Benin. Apologies were sent from Senegal. The meeting elected Dr Obinna Onwujekwe from Nigeria to be the director, Dr. Felicien Hounye from Republic of Benin the Deputy Director and Dr Patricia Akweongo from Ghana as secretary. The secretariat of WAHEN will be hosted by HPRG.

9. Second ordinary meeting Held in Cotonou (Benin Republic), 8 th & 9 th October 2009 Reviewed the implementation of the key decisions made at the inaugural session Discussed various presentation of scientific papers by delegates & specific issues, e.g.: –Creation of national health economics associations, –The (West) African Journal of Health Economics (AJHE), –Ways of strengthening the WAHEN, –Various expectations of the current members for WAHEN, and the possible ways of achieving these expectations, 28 participants: Benin 10, Burkina Faso 2, Congo (AFRO)1, Cote d’Ivoire 2, Ghana 2, Mali 3, Nigeria 6 and Senegal 2.

10. Definitive activities Registered with CAC Nigeria Bank Account opened with Eco Bank Database & Website established Dissemination of published and grey literature Fund raising to support definite activities Capacity-development workshops proposed –Economic evaluation –Equity analysis –Financial risk protection –Workforce performance –Health Policy Analysis

11. Next!!!!!!!!! 3 rd Meeting scheduled for Ghana later in the year. Rev Sr Eugenia in-charge After Ghana, Senegal next in........?