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would make a significant contribution to rendering oncho-freed areas safer for resettlement. Burkina has sought bilateral sources of financing for its Devolution Plan sińce 1989 without result. Supporting Burkina's Devolution Plan would safeguard a major donor investment of US$500 million in the eleven countries covered by the Onchocerciasis Control Program-including US$50 million in grant financing from the Bank-to successfully rid the region of this endemic disease which has been a major constraint to development. Finally, successful implementation of the proposed Population and AIDS Prevention project (para. 2.49) will depend importantly upon actions taken to strengthen the health system and improve the quality of health services under this project.

B.    Project Obiectiyes

3.2    The project would assist the Gcvemment in its efforts to: (a) improve significantly the ąuality, coverage, and utilization of basie health services for the Burkinabe population, (b) enhance the nutritional status of the population by decreasing micronutrient deficiencies, and (c) develop a national capacity for achieving sustainable control of endemic parasitic diseases. Progress in achieving these objectives will be assessed against monitoring indicators, developed and agreed upon with the Government, and reflected in the Letter of Health Sector Policy (para. 2.33, Annex 2.4) which was finalized during negotiations and submitted to IDA as a condition for Board presentation.

C.    Project Summary

3.3    To achieve these objectives, the project would support the four components summarized below, through policy reforms and investments.

Table 1: Project Components

1. Improve ąuality, coverage, and otilizatkm of basie health services by: ii    (a) strengthening the health system pyramid,

(b)    rationalizing staff use, and promoting staff developr.ent,

(c)    decentralizing the public health system, and

(d)    inereasing availability of essential druga.

| 2. Reduce micronutrient deficiencies by:

(a)    supporting micronutrient supplementation, and

(b)    deveIoping a longer-term, durable national strategy for reducing micronutrient deficiencies.

3.    Achlere and maintaln control of endemic parasitic diseases by:

(a)    strengthening the capacities of the health system to carry out epidemio iogical surveillancc and treat detectcd cases of onchocerciasis, trypanosomiasis, and dracunculiaais, and

(b)    inereasing awareness among target popuiations regarding prevention of transmission of these three diseases.

4.    Strengthening the MSASF by:

(a)    enhancing and rationalizing its capacity to morę effectively control endemic parasitic diseases,

(b)    strengthening its capacity to implement reform of the pharmaccutical sector,

(c)    enhancing capacity to manage physical assets and personnel throughout the public health system,

(d)    improving capacity for monitoring and coordinating donor-financed health projects, and

(e)    strengthening capacity to coordinate project implementation.