Five-year Health Sector Strategy: Investing in Health and Achieving the MDGs 2007-2011.

This Strategy is a sectoral document prepared by the Ministry of Health in response to the Government initiative for developing a 5-year strategic plan for all sectors in Sudan. The purpose of this policy document is to provide a framework for the health system reform and sustainable development, together with stipulating the most important health priorities to be addressed during the next five years. The paper, although it is a sectoral policy, supports the development of environmental health and community-based approaches for achieving health goals in partnership with other sectors, such as (i) support policies and develop strategies and services that ensure all people have access to save water supply and effective sanitation; (ii) reduce adverse health effects of environmental hazards; (iii) develop and implement systems to ensure food safety, chemical safety, solid waste and industrial waste management; and (iv) work in partnership with related sectors to combat pollution and control communicable disease vectors.
The Strategy Vision aims at building a healthy nation, with emphasis on the health needs of the poor, under-served, disadvantaged and vulnerable populations, thereby contributing to the achievement of the MDGs and the overall social and economic development of the country. Consequently, the Ministry Mission is focusing on the provision of equitable and quality health services that meet the Sudanese people expectations and needs, promote their health, improve their quality of life, and permits them to lead a dignified and prosperous life. This will be done through putting health at the center of the country development policy, using best available evidence and efficient utilization of resources.
Main goals of the Strategy are to (i) improve governance of the health system; (ii) improve coverage and accessibility to quality health services, ensuring adequate production, equitable distribution and retention of skilled human health personnel based on the health system needs, reforming and developing a pro poor health care financing policies and improving the availability to affordable, safe and effective essential medicines; (iii) improve child health through the reduction of child morbidity and mortality; (iv) improve maternal health through the reduction of maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity; (v) combat the most common communicable diseases; (vi) promote healthy life styles reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases; (vii) create an environment conducive to partnership building and promotion of the role the private sector. Strategic objectives and priority strategic interventions accompany these goals to illustrate the implementation methods and strategies.
The Strategy seeks to improve the accessibility to quality health services prioritizing populations with little or no access to health services, as in rural areas, and to upgrade rural and referral hospitals with necessary equipment. This intervention means also to create jobs to recruit the appropriate staffing at every level of health services.
As for the Governance, the task is to strengthen the governance and institutional capacity of the decentralized health system at all levels and to introduce and adopt quality management systems in all health facilities.