His Excellency The Ambassador of the USA to Togo for the official Handover
of Medical Materials And Equipment for Golfe, Agoe-Nyive And Ave Districts
February 1, 2021 at 3:00pm Gmt
Your excellency, Minister of Health, Public Hygiene and Universal Access to Health Care;
Secretary General of Health, Public Hygiene and Universal Access to Health Care;
Officers of the Ministry of Health, Public Hygiene and Universal Access to Health Care;
Colleagues of USAID/Togo and USAID/West Africa
Regional Director of the USAID-funded AmplifyPF project in Togo;
Members of the media;
Ladies and Gentlemen, distinguished guests
It is a pleasure to be with you today to hand over these medical materials and equipment, in support of 30 public health facilities in the Golfe and AgoèNyivé Health Districts in the Greater Lomé region and Avé District in the Maritime Region.
Working with our partners to improve access to health for all and health infrastructure is a priority for the United States. For this reason, one of President Biden’s first acts on January 20, was to recommit the United States’ participation as a member of the World Health Organization. The United States will continue to engage with its partners on health priorities.
It is for this reason that we are here today, to recognize this donation, from the American People to the Togolese People, which is made possible through the USAID-funded AmplifyPF project,implemented by Pathfinder International. This donation is in response to a baseline analysis conducted in March 2020 that identified various gaps in terms of medical materials and equipment needed to ensure quality family planning services in all health facilities in the districts supported.
Family planning is one of your government’s priorities as an essential pillar underpinning the achievement of the UN sustainable development goals.
The U.S. government is committed to working alongside the Togolese government to further your journey to self-reliance. Voluntary access to quality family planning services can help guarantee continued use of health services and thereby improve the health and well-being of the population. One of the objectives of the USAID-funded AmplifyPF project is to upgrade select health facilities through capacity building of health personnel.
The provision of these materials and equipment will therefore help to achieve this objective.
Your excellency- the Minister of Health;
Ladies and Gentlemen, distinguished guests;
This ceremony provides me with the opportunity to thank you for all your efforts in the area of maternal and child health and family planning, as it is well established that good family planning practices contribute to reducing maternal mortality by one third. It is even more important to continue this work now as the COVID-19 pandemic has had a detrimental impact on health systems worldwide.
I would also like to commend you for recently appointing the Delegated Minister of Access to Universal Healthcare and for your efforts towards free healthcare services for pregnant women in Togo.
I would like to conclude by expressing to you, on behalf of the United States Government and the American People, our commitment to accompany Togo in its efforts to improve the health of its population in general; and the health of mothers and children in particular. I am pleased to announce that the U.S. Government will provide supplemental funding of two million U.S. dollars to AmplifyPF. This increased funding will enable the project to increase its coverage from 12% of Togo’s total population to more than 30%, reaching over 2.5 million Togolese citizens withUSAID’s AmplifyPF activities.
Mr. Minister, I have no doubt that the good collaboration between our two governments, as well as the synergy with other partners, will allow us to succeed in our goal of offering quality family planning services to the beneficiaries of Greater Lomé, and will certainly contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the National Development Plan in Togo. Thank you all for your attention and continued collaboration.
Thank you.
