Unmet healthcare needs in Senegal and the role of universal health coverage

Senegal aims to transform into an emerging market economy by 2035 with the help of its ambitious development policy, the Plan Sénégal Emergent (PSE). The PSE highlights the crucial role of health in achieving this goal and emphasizes the need for "an efficient health system that provides quality services accessible to the population". To this end, the country has made significant investments to improve access to healthcare. The State now has a programme to provide free health care services to women, children under-five, and the elderly (Plan SESAME). Additionally, caesarean sections are free and the country launched a universal health insurance scheme called Universal Health Coverage (UHC) program in 2013. The objective of this project is to comprehensively assess the unmet healthcare needs in Senegal, identify the underlying causes, and evaluate the impact of the UHC scheme in addressing these challenges. The project will also analyse the effects of UHC on various health outcomes, including child mortality, prenatal care, and maternal health. The SEEDLINGS project will facilitate access to administrative data and relevant information necessary for the study. It will also aid in determining the appropriate geographical scale, whether national or regional, and guide the selection of diseases to be included in the investigation of unmet need for healthcare.