SANFAM is a non-governmental organization (NGO), operating on both a national and international level, that provides assistance to developing reproductive health programs in the private and semi-public sectors as well as to local collectives throughout Senegal. Early SANFAM activities began in 1989 through a collaborative agreement with JHPIEGO to provide appropriate training to doctors and nurses, laboratory technicians, and social workers in contraceptive methods, laboratory techniques, and IEC (information, education, and communication), respectively. In 1991 with the support of USAID and the Government of Senegal, SANFAM was commissioned to oversee the Volet Secteur Privé et Semi-Publique (VSPP) of the Projet Santé Familiale et Population (PSFP). Since that time, SANFAM has assumed the mission of the VSPP project under an NGO structure.
The mission of SANFAM is to contribute to the improvement of the population’s health by assisting the promotion of reproductive health in the private and semi-public sectors. SANFAM defines it target market as the workplace: the workers and their families, the medical and pharmaceutical professionals providing the services as well as all populations seeking health care services in the private or semi-public sectors. Nationally, SANFAM directly supports family planning efforts of clinics in the private, semi-public sectors, and local collectives; provides feasibility studies on the financing of public health initiatives, IEC activities, and reproductive health programs in Senegal. On an international level, SANFAM offers its expertise to African countries in training of health workers, introducing family health and family programs into the private sector, and encouraging other NGOs to enter into the health sector.
SANFAM is the only NGO that promotes family planning in the private sector of Senegal. It currently serves thirty-five Senegalese private-sector companies, providing assistance to fifty family planning service delivery points (SDP) which covers approximately 30% of the total number of family planning service delivery points in all of Senegal. SANFAM works with existing health structures within these sectors and promotes family planning efforts by providing comprehensive support to these efforts, primarily through supervision and provision of supplies.
In support of its mission, SANFAM strives to achieve four strategic objectives through activities including increasing the number of SANFAM-supported family planning service delivery points, improving the quality of services provided in the present SANFAM-supported delivery points, strengthening SANFAM’s institutional capacity, and assisting the development of other family health and family planning programs in the private and public sectors in West and Central Africa.
The SFPS Project through the service delivery component (SFPS/SD) plans to support SANFAM as it expands its scope of work in the West and Central African region. Collaboration in the past year has provided SANFAM the opportunity to share its unique experiences and lessons learned with organizations in Côte d'Ivoire who desire to penetrate private and para-statal clinics with reproductive health initiatives. In addition, SFPS/SD is assisting SANFAM in the development of a manual which documents the organization's uniqueness and innovations. In the future, SFPS/SD will focus on continued expansion of SANFAM's scope in the region with plans to strengthen similar initiatives in Cameroon. These activities are a major part of SANFAM’s regional work and as such will have significant impact.
Contact Information:
Sante de la Famille (SANFAM)
43 34 Avenue Bourguiba Amitie 3
Dakar, Senegal
Phone: 221.824.60.40
Fax: 221.824.60.37
General Director: Alpha Dieng
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