Senegal increases insulin subsidies and plans new medical screening strategy

The Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene in Senegal plans to launch a targeted annual medical checkup program in 2027 to encourage early detection of chronic diseases.

Dr. Moustapha Diop, the director of the fight against the occurrence of diseases, explained that the government wants to establish a culture of regular medical monitoring among citizens. The strategy aims to provide every person in Senegal with a medical assessment tailored to their age, sex, and specific risk factors.

The ministry will initially offer this program to workers in the formal sector before expanding it to the wider population. To fund the initiative, the government intends to use health insurance mechanisms and mutual health funds to make the screenings accessible at the community level. To support patients currently living with diabetes, the government increased the subsidy for insulin from 300 million to 520 million FCFA.

Officials also confirmed that antidiabetic medications are included on the list of essential medicines and are available through the Pharmacie nationale d'approvisionnement. Additionally, the country now has 27 integrated centers for managing diabetes and hypertension, with plans to open a 28th center in Pouva. These actions follow data from the STEPS 2024 survey, which showed that the prevalence of diabetes among people aged 18 to 69 rose to 4.2 percent from 3.4 percent in 2015.

The ministry intends to use a national health monitoring platform to integrate data on diabetes and hypertension to improve the accuracy of its prevention efforts.