Strengthening Primary Health Care Management in Mozambique—Part Two
In our last post, we talked about an innovative grant that is supporting HAI to strengthen primary health care in Sofala Province in Mozambique, including support for better data systems and collection.
While we are focusing on data quality improvement, our staff are also working with health managers to develop plans for each district to identify challenges in service delivery and steps to improve them. Our technical support teams provide on-the-job support to managers at the district and provincial levels. In combination with training in various management areas, this mentorship enables Ministry of Health staff to apply their new knowledge much more quickly. We will also create job aids that help managers and workers to identify problems and make decisions.
Annual district planning session in Buzi District
Health systems research is the third component of this project-specifically implementation research, operations research and program evaluation. In collaboration with Ministry of Health staff, the University of Washington and Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique, our team is helping to identify research models and studies that will help health managers locate problems and test solutions. One example is a study looking at the adherence of HIV-positive children to antiretroviral therapy at one of the health facilities.
All of these efforts aim to make the health system more responsive to the people it serves. This means that health centers will have enough staff hired and working to respond to patient demand and ensure that there are medicines in stock for all patients who need them.
But how will we know if the project is working? At various points throughout the seven years of the project, we will evaluate improved responsiveness by comparing facilities in Sofala Province to those in another province that is not receiving the same technical support. Patients will be asked about their level of satisfaction and waiting times will be observed.
Example of a tool to record patient waiting times, which informs HR allocation policies
This project is an exciting opportunity for us to focus on the work that we consider fundamental to improving health care systems and ultimately the health and well-being of people who seek care. We will continue learning from the model we're applying in this project, and from the other partners funded through this initiative, to inform future efforts in helping country governments build stronger health systems.
For more details about the Population Health Implementation Training Partnership project in Mozambique, contact Kenny Sherr, Director of Implementation Science at Health Alliance International and Assistant Professor at the University of Washington's Department of Global Health.
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