Headline: Investing in Partnerships for Health Impact
06/12/2010
MSH President and CEO Jono Quick on leveraging collaboration in fragile states
In fragile states, constraints on governments often prevent them from simultaneously building their stewardship role and immediately expanding service delivery. National and local governments must ultimately lead the process and work together with NGOs and the private sector to successfully strengthen their own health systems.
In Haiti, a two-pronged approach was successfully developed and implemented prior to the earthquake by a four-way partnership between the Government of Haiti, the United States Government, a network of Haitian and international NGOs (Santé pour le Développement et la Stabilité d'Haïti) (SDSH), and Management Sciences for Health.
The two-pronged approach included:
First, the partners restored leadership capacity of the Ministry of Health to strengthen policymaking, convening, standard-setting, and coordination roles that uniquely belong to the government.
At the same time, partners preserved, respected, and built on existing local human resources, physical infrastructure, and health system elements already in place. Partners worked with all existing service providers - public, NGO, and private sector - to support and build their capacity to provide responsive, quality, community-based, and facility based preventative and curative care.
My colleague, Dr. Florence Guillaume, Deputy Chief of Party/ Technical Director (SDSH), visited Washington, D.C. in March and shared her thoughts with Congress on this two-pronged approach, "It is about starting from the base, planning from needs to resources to priorities, harnessing under-utilized resources, and increasing public-private partnerships," she said. "The vision behind this is to achieve effective decentralization through integrated departmental planning and strengthened management systems to provide quality health services."
The SDSH network made an important impact on maternal health, family planning, and HIV & AIDS. From 2008-2009, they trained and supported more than 4,000 traditional birth attendants. As a result, 45 percent of pregnant mothers had three prenatal visits, and 40 percent received a home visit within three days of giving birth. They also tested 49,196 pregnant women for HIV, and saw over half of those who tested HIV positive through the entire course of treatment to reduce the risk of HIV transmission to their babies. By training and equipping 1,035 community health agents to promote family planning, the network contributed to a 24 percent increase in the use of modern contraceptives methods.
A two-pronged approach is essential to strengthening health systems in fragile states such as Haiti, Afghanistan, Southern Sudan, or Liberia.
Our partnership with the Haitian Ministry of Health has proven that it is possible to build on complementary strengths of governments, civil society, and the private sector to achieve significant health impact. I look forward to continuing the conversation and dialogue with the Haitian Minister of Health Alex Larsen at the conference.
@conference
Dr. Quick will be moderating the plenary session How Has the Increase in Global Health Resources had a Positive Impact on Health?
Dr. Jonathan Quick is president and CEO of Management Sciences for Health.
The idea of forming partnership for health impact is good but the question l want to ask the initiators is that are we having the needed especially those of us who come the third world countries ,Ghana. What l have observed as an executive director of an ngo operating in Ghana specifically in Techiman municipality and Nkoranza district respectively in the Brong Ahafo Region.
My concern is that when partnerships are formed and resources are sourced to address an issue, normally the small ngos from less developed countries are sidelined to the detriment of the poor and impoverished people. Can we all do something to support such local group to also deliver because they are with the people and understand the better.
— DAVIS BOAMAH ASUMADU on 2010-07-01