Health service support centres to give patients in 3 West African countries a stronger voice in healthcare

Patients in Benin, The Gambia and Togo are set to have new spaces where they can raise complaints and concerns about the healthcare they receive. The West African Health Organisation (WAHO) has launched projects to establish Health Service User Support Centres in the three countries as part of efforts to improve the quality and safety of healthcare in West Africa. The centres are expected to give patients and other users of health services a structured place to report problems, seek guidance and get support when they encounter difficulties during their healthcare journey.

But WAHO says the centres are not intended to be simple complaints desks. They will also provide opportunities for dialogue and mediation, while information gathered from patients will be used to identify recurring problems and help improve healthcare. The projects were officially launched in Lomé, Togo, on 21 August 2026.

The ceremony brought together representatives of the ECOWAS Commission, WAHO and the Togolese government, as well as representatives and presidents of the Medical Councils of Benin, The Gambia and Togo. ‘A space of dignity’ WAHO Director General Dr Melchior Athanase J. Aïssi said patients’ complaints and feedback should be treated as an important source of information for improving health systems.

He said the centres should go beyond recording complaints. A Health Service User Support Centre, he said, is “a space of dignity where the complainant’s voice is received, documented and transformed into action for improvement”. The centres are expected to help health authorities identify risks, learn from patients’ experiences and provide appropriate responses.

The initiative is also being presented as a way of strengthening trust between patients and healthcare providers. ECOWAS Resident Representative in Togo, H.E. Deweh Emily Gray, praised WAHO and the Medical Councils of the three countries for their commitment to the project.

She said the centres could help strengthen trust between communities and healthcare facilities. She also called for strong coordination and the sharing of lessons between the three countries so that experiences from one country can benefit the others. Vice-President of the ECOWAS Commission, H.E.