The ministers of the Beninese government held their weekly meeting on Thursday, October 5, 2023. During this meeting, which was chaired by the President of the Republic, Patrice Athanase Guillaume Talon, several decisions were made. Below is the full list of decisions taken.
I- NORMATIVE MEASURES.
It has been adopted under this section, the decree transmitting to the National Assembly, for examination and voting, the bill amending Law No. 2012-36 of February 15, 2013 establishing the Beninese Human Rights Commission in the Republic of Benin.
II- COMMUNICATIONS.
II-1. Establishment of a Medical Emergency Unit for Care, Health Surveillance, and Assistance at Cotonou Airport.
Our country is a signatory to the International Health Regulations and, as such, is committed to developing the necessary capabilities to effectively respond to public health events at points of entry on its territory.
This measure aligns perfectly with the ongoing renovation works at the airport.
In concrete terms, it will not only ensure optimal epidemiological surveillance through early detection, isolation, and notification of public health events, but also address medical emergencies that may occur among passengers or staff within the airport.
The medical facility to be installed will be adapted to the consequent deployment of the emergency response plan for potential epidemics, including standardized operational procedures for prevention, detection, and notification of communicable diseases.
Likewise, the system for responding to emergencies or life-threatening situations through assistance to passengers with reduced mobility or those with medical conditions requiring pre-flight medical conditioning would be better organized.
The Council has therefore agreed to establish this medical unit.
The relevant ministers have been instructed to ensure its prompt operationalization with the selected strategic partner.
II-2. Consolidation of the social protection programs beneficiaries database.
At the end of the first edition conducted between 2018 and 2020, two million five hundred thousand (2,500,000) individuals were identified as poor, including one million five hundred thousand (1,500,000) classified as extreme poor.
However, the exploitation of this database has revealed certain deficiencies and cases of injustice that need to be corrected by including the unregistered extreme poor during the first operation and by removing ineligible individuals who were included.
Furthermore, in addition to household and individual enumeration, the database that gives form to the Unique Social Registry will incorporate more modalities to objectively and easily identify potential beneficiaries of social protection programs such as GBESSOKE, SWEDD, etc.
III- INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS AND EVENTS.
He has been authorized:
- The organization of the 15th meeting of Energy Ministers of ECOWAS in Benin, from October 5th to October 7th, 2023;
- the celebration of the International Day of Older Persons on October 6th, 2023;
- and Benin’s participation in the 2nd International Conference on Female Genital Mutilation, from October 9th to October 11th, 2023, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania;
- the 21st International Conference of Labour Statisticians, from October 11th to October 20th, 2023, in Geneva, Switzerland.
IV- INDIVIDUAL MEASURES.
At the Ministry of Health, Mr. Olivier PERROT has been appointed General Director of the National Hospital Maintenance Agency, following deliberations of the Board of Directors.
Done in Cotonou, on October 5, 2023,
The Secretary General of the Government,
Edouard OUIN-OURO.
