Data

Sharing E4A-MamaYe’s tools as Global Public Goods for health

federica — Fri, 06 Mar 2020 16:10:31 +0000

Sharing E4A-MamaYe’s tools as Global Public Goods for health federica Fri, 03/06/2020 - 16:10

Significant progress has been made in primary healthcare (PHC) to achieve better health outcomes. However, five years after the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), too many mothers and children are still dying because of preventable causes. Evidence shows that strong accountability mechanisms, where civil society is equipped to use the information for advocacy through channels that enable responsive governance, are essential to ensure quality healthcare is available to mothers and newborns.

As the Evidence for Action (E4A) - MamaYe Project Director, I’m proud to have witnessed the many ways in which Options has worked together with partners across sub-Saharan Africa to enhance evidence-informed advocacy through strong domestic coalitions. Under the E4A-MamaYe project, we support civil society groups, government, practitioners and development partners across sectors to find evidence-based solutions that bring about a transformational improvement to the lives of women and girls.

Our expertise has grown over the years and our approaches to improve health sector accountability are well-established. We now want to make these available for use more widely. How? By packaging these as ‘global public goods’ that are adaptable, easy to use and accessible.

Adaptable, easy to use and accessible: how we see Global Public Goods

There is a growing recognition that, in today’s world of increased connectivity, climate change, demographic challenges, and economic and political influence driven by nations across multiple continents, there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ model of development or development cooperation.

Development solutions need to be (co-)designed and driven domestically and should be tested and adapted to meet the needs of different contexts. Recognising this, our Global Public Goods will include (but not limited to) advocacy training modules, guidelines, and tools that will be adaptable to meet specific contextual needs, enabling these to be used beyond the countries we are working in, including Francophone Africa and (in some cases) beyond maternal health and the health sector. Each of the E4A-MamaYe's Global Public Goods will include guidance on ways to adapt these to the needs of other contexts and sectors.

To make our products easy to use and do not require additional technical support from us to be applied in practice, we will ensure that these are packaged in a way that facilitates easy use and will provide instructions through written ‘how-to’ guidance or videos.

We will make our Global Public Goods accessible by making them available online in formats that are tailored to a range of target audiences and by using a language (English and French) that is easy to understand. We will inform our audiences across different countries about the availability of new tools by sharing links on our communication and social media channels, (including Twitter and LinkedIn) as well as with our regional and global networks.

Our team is very excited about the coming two years: we will share our global public goods with partners all over the world in our joint search for solutions that will drastically improve the lives of women and girls. By implementing these approaches at a wider scale through our partners – and therefore beyond our project’s scope, geographies and timeline - we aim to make a lasting impact on the lives of women and girls worldwide. We look forward to engaging with stakeholders to exchange ideas and lessons learned, and providing support where needed to achieve this vision.

Civil Society representatives at the E4A-MamaYe Advocacy Training held in Nairobi in March 2020

The Niger State Led Accountability Mechanism (NiSLAM) at the inauguration of the MPDSR committee

As donors, governments, and communities strive to deliver Universal Health Coverage, it is important to share experiences and tools as we try to find ways of advancing health sector accountability. In this editorial note, E4A-MamaYe Project Director Marleen Vellekoop explains why the project will be making its approaches publicly available as Global Public Goods

Approach Filter

Packaging Evidence

Health priorities and investments in Senegal

nimda — Sat, 29 Jul 2017 23:00:00 +0000

Health priorities and investments in Senegal nimda Sun, 07/30/2017 - 00:00

Three days of attentive and constructive participation in discussions on health priorities and investments were enjoyed among ministries and local authorities’ as well as civil society organisations (CSO's); a great step towards greater dialogue between the government and its citizens on health priorities and investments in Senegal.

Under the leadership of the Ministry for African Integration and Promotion of Good Governance (MIANPBG) Wednesday was spent at a one day Round Table on Health Budgeting. An event that brought together members of civil society, national and local government, Ministry of Health and Social Action (MSAS), trade unions, hospital directors, the press and development partners.

Official presentations on health budgeting and the next health financing strategy (expected to be discussed with civil society representative ahead of final validation later this year), were followed by a very lively discussion on both challenges and opportunities for civil society participation, as well as expectations on future collaboration.

For our E4A team, it was a crash course in specific strategies and approaches for engaging civil society in Senegal, and to share our strategic approaches in other E4A countries.

The event was also a great opportunity to have the press talk about health budgeting just a few days ahead of the national elections (see some articles here: Le Soleil; Enqueteplus, and Le Quotidien).

At the end of the day participants left the round table together and, as the bus was leaving the busy streets of Dakar, the atmosphere relaxed, leaving room to informal discussions, exchanges of phone numbers, and some power naps.

E4A - MamaYe training on the budget cycle

A great tone had been set during Monday’s round table and expectations were high for the following two days as E4A led interactive training, tailored to the Senegal context, on the national budgeting cycle, highlighting key practical steps civil society organisations can follow to perform budget analysis. This training was a targeted follow up from the multi-country training E4A and the Africa Health Budget Network hosted in Nairobi in April.

Participation included officials from the Ministry of Health - a first for us and we definitely felt the extra pressure, MIANPBG and many local authorities. Participants had to reconstruct the budget cycle and its key steps, browse through the Financial Law to find references to health and become familiar with the document so that as soon as the 2018 version is published they can start the analysis and advocacy efforts. They used the Citizens Budget to find information relevant to their engagement strategies and, most importantly, as one participant said, for the first time they were not intimidated by the “big budget documents full of numbers”!

Each civil society member brought their specific interests and experiences to the table, we had examples from family planning, access to services for the poorest and transparency of information, just to mention a few. The second day, we focused on budget analysis, interpretation and presentation of the results. We looked at spending trends in the region, rates of out of pocket spending and overall public investment in health.

What surprised us the most was the attentive and constructive participation from national and local government officials. Throughout the training sessions, they sat with civil society, explained on going processes, provided insights on the various opportunities for CSOs engagement across the budget cycle and key decision makers.

The training provided civil society organisations the tools and methods to comfortably base their advocacy strategies on evidence, find the answers to their questions in the budget documents and identify the best entry point for their engagement. Thanks to the ministries and local authorities’ attendance, it was also a great step towards greater dialogue between the government and its citizens on health priorities and investments.

We wish our friends at CICODEV, the Citizen Network for Budget Transparency (RCTB) and the rest of civil society in Senegal the best of luck as the country continues its path towards universal health coverage and prepares the investment case for the Global Financing Facility.

E4A flew to Senegal this week to support CICODEV Africa at the first national round table on budgeting for health and to hold training in health budget advocacy.

Approach Filter

Health Financing

Family planning decision making at a click of a button

nimda — Sun, 02 Jul 2017 23:00:00 +0000

Family planning decision making at a click of a button nimda Mon, 07/03/2017 - 00:00

A family planning (FP) dashboard is powerful tool for decision making. This vital government owned tool can inform planning, budgeting and eventually improve accountable family planning service delivery by:

Tracking reproductive health trainings undertaken by the service providers
Sharing FP reports in different forms
Monitoring FP commodities and stock status of a particular facility

Our team in Bungoma County supported two days of training, targeting the Ministry of Health officials of different cadres drawn from all the sub-counties. Testimonies provided by the participants are a clear indicator that the training on the tool was timely.

Hellen Koloni, the Sub-County health records officer-Webuye East, acknowledged that she was not privy to the tool until the training. After the training, she learnt that at a click of a button, she will be able to monitor the FP commodity stock of each facility and provide advice for redistribution so that services can continue as normal before each facility receives new stock. You can imagine this will reduce wastage and unnecessary expiration of commodities. Hellen says the tool will help minimize stock out at any given time. Hellen says,

When you want to see how much the facility is having in terms of stock, at times they misappropriate in terms of mathematics, but this one at the click of a button, not necessarily going to the pivot table the way it has been, am able to look at a facility and share with them the trends.

Haron Hamisi is the Reproductive Health Coordinator for Webuye east Sub County. He explains how excited he is to navigate through the dashboard. As he does this, he will be able to know the reporting rates of the facilities and to compare the performance of his sub county with the others.

According to Haron, the tool is an eye opener. He will be able to track the FP stock in terms of utilisation rate for different methods in each facility. He will also be able to do proper quantification and ordering and even update on each staff trained on each service provision.

The dashboard will inform Harron’s decision making in terms of improving the skills of his staff. He says, "I have come to realise that Bungoma county and the sub-counties FP commodities like the injectable have higher rates of consumption, followed by implants. The vasectomy has come to be the last one (0.0%). so it has opened up for me to go and sensitise and also to lobby for more trainings from the county so that people can be trained on service provision of BTL, Vasectomy and other services as concerned with FP".

Lorna is the Reproductive Health Coordinator for Kanduyi Sub County, commenting that the tool is a game changer. Lorna will be able to compare her FP commodity stocks with other sub counties and is willing to redistribute not only between facilities in her sub county but also to other sub counties, as well as know who to borrow from should need arise.

Lorna commits that she will now be able to hold her staff accountable for all the FP related trainings they had attended. She acknowledges the gap that exists in terms of skills of service providers at private health facilities and that as she will be able to track the trainings among the government facility staffs, the private health facilities will not be left out since their data is also used for decision making.

Lorna is no longer going to blindly order for commodities. She says, "If you are going to do orders for the FP commodities, you will be able to know which commodities are being used by most clients and which ones are not being used, and you are able to know how much to order and for how long".

With the momentum gained following the training on FP dashboards, and the enthusiasm noted, it’s high time we used the FP Dashboard to inform decision making in Bungoma County.

The service providers have committed to change the approach to FP service delivery in the County. I urge the implementing partners; particularly DSW and E4A-MamaYe to initiate the follow-up mechanisms to ensure the commitments are delivered.

Our team in Bungoma County supported two days of Family Planning Training, targeting the Ministry of Health officials of different cadres drawn from all the sub-counties.

Approach Filter

Influencing

SDGs: "Accelerating protection & empowerment"

nimda — Thu, 15 Jun 2017 23:00:00 +0000

SDGs: "Accelerating protection & empowerment" nimda Fri, 06/16/2017 - 00:00

In 2015, the global under-5 mortality rate was 43 per 1,000 live births, while the global neonatal mortality rate was 19 per 1,000 live births (WHO). We still have a way to go, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa where the E4A-MamaYe programme is working hard to address the issues surrounding quality of care and ensuring that individuals, organisations and governments across Africa are working to make pregnancy and childbirth safer.

There is however great news. Between 2000 – 2015 there was an annual rate of reduction in neonatal mortality by 3.1% (WHO). In Tanzania you can see how investments in quality care, education in the importance of using a skilled birth provider and delivering in a health facility has led to more than 50% reduction. If these rates in reduction are maintained the global neonatal mortality rate can be reduced to meet the SDG 3.2 target.

Such success shows that political choices can lead to real change. Success also shows that when African governments develop, implement and fund policies, programmes and plans, lives can be saved.

To ensure that countries progress towards maximising newborn survival it is crucial that everyone focuses on the data and evidence. If the Global Goals are going to be achieved all children need to be counted. At E4A-MamaYe, having data available to inform our programming and hold leaders to account is central to our theory of change. Data on newborn deaths must be recorded and reported publicly in accessible formats. MamaYe Nigeria is working on an innovative initiative in Lagos State where a number of hospitals have begun electronic auditing of maternal and perinatal deaths.

E4A-MamaYe has seen the impact our Activists have in ensuring that newborn survival and health is improved. We know that when communities call out for change, armed with the evidence, they are better prepared to remind their leaders of the commitments they have made and the areas where improvements are required. Real change is possible.

Today we ask E4A-MamaYe supporters and partners to

Remind your leaders of the ‘Transforming our World: 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’, a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. Remind them that less than two years ago they made a commitment to ensure that no one is left behind. Remind them that the efforts made during the MDGs (2000 – 2015) need to be maintained because it is possible for the global neonatal mortality rate to be reduced to meet the SDG 3.2 target.

Let us all work towards accelerating protection, empowerment and equal opportunity for all African children.

That’s a significant target, within just one of the aspirational Global Goals that were adopted at the UN General Assembly in September 2015. It is also a target that is integral to our work at E4A-MamaYe.

Approach Filter

Packaging Evidence

SMS: a tool for activists to raise their voices

nimda — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 23:00:00 +0000

SMS: a tool for activists to raise their voices nimda Mon, 06/05/2017 - 00:00

E4A-MamaYe Malawi owes much of its success to its trained activists in all the three regions of Mzimba, Rumphi and Nkhata Bay. A continuous engagement with the activists in its various ways has helped to make positive impact in the districts in improving maternal and newborn health. The activists, volunteers from different cross-sections of the society, dedicated their time and energy in informing their communities with various critical messages and awareness campaigns. At the same time they were involved in advocating for resources to allocate in the health facilities of the areas they come from.

The activists could not have done it all by themselves, especially when it comes to raising awareness and advocating on some important issues. Hence, the introduction of SMS in the campaign had helped a great deal in engaging the activists and keeps them updated with essential information.

The SMS toll free line is used to send messages to all the members in the data base. The service is provided by the mobile phone company Airtel. The activists are not being charged when they send responses, whereas only MamaYe is charged for using the service.

The clean birth campaign has been one of the activities for which the SMS toll free line was used. By using the evidence generated through HBA and QuIC, the community would be made aware of some of the negative consequences health facilities might face if not adhering to recommended standards. Many activists have used the information to advocate for blood donation at various health facilities and in their communities.

One of the benefits of using the SMS toll free line is that the activists have taken ownership of the project and activities as they are able to see the needs at the community level and find ways of addressing them. Special messages for specific days have played a great impact in alerting the communities on some of the risks they are exposed to. Of particular mention was during the World Pneumonia Day and World Malaria Day, both commemorating some of the biggest causes of maternal and newborn deaths in the country. The SMS were sent to inform the activists and the communities on taking extra precautions, in order to save the lives of both the mother and the baby. And so recipients sent a number of responses on what they do to raise awareness on the issues.

One of them, Micheal Nkhulapo from Rumphi, said,

We encourage pregnant women to observe a healthy diet. We also tell the women to go deliver at a health facility.

Christina Zimba from Nkhata Bay responds by saying that with her colleagues, she usually take part in activities which advocate for women to go for antenatal clinics to ensure the health of both the baby and the mother.

SMS have also been used to spread evidence and information based on QuIC. As a way of encouraging ownership of some of the challenges in the communities, activists have been asked what actions they take to respond to some of the issues raised from the findings. Oscar Chimango, chairperson of Mzenga Activists Group in Nkhata Bay, responds by narrating that the group together with the community were able to raise resources for Mzenga Health Centre amounting to K110,000 for the purchase of mops, candles, wheelbarrow and grass slashers. The activists were also engaged in advocating for blood donation by going around in school mobilizing students to donate blood and conducting health education.

As highlights by the response above, SMS’s have played and will continue to play a very critical role when it comes to activists’ engagement. Volunteers are being fed with important key messages that are tailor-made and which push them to take action. The constant engagement has also helped to keep track on their progress of work as during visits to some areas, people are able to acknowledge the work the activists are doing. Using such information some communities have been able to set up by-laws which discourage women delivering at home.

Through this cheap way of sending out messages to the masses, one can easily see the impact MamaYe has in reducing and improving maternal and newborn health care in the districts.

To read more on role of activists around Mhenga Health Centre, click here.

The introduction of SMS in the campaign has helped E4A-MamaYe Malawi in engaging the activists across all the three regions of Mzimba, Rumphi and Nkhata Bay.

Approach Filter

Clinical Expertise

Useful links

Report on MamaYe Malawi

First GFF civil society meeting in Sierra Leone

nimda — Mon, 15 May 2017 14:38:22 +0000

First GFF civil society meeting in Sierra Leone nimda Mon, 05/15/2017 - 15:38

Victor Lansana Koroma, Executive Director of Health Alert led the meeting in Freetown after he had recently attended the GFF global meetings in Washington DC on behalf of civil society in Sierra Leone. The Global Financing Facility is a multi-stakeholder partnership that supports country-led efforts to improve the health of women, children, and adolescents.

He gave his feedback to the Budget Advocacy Working Group and other civil society organisations (CSOs) on the key points of the discussion.

More than 20 CSO representatives from organisations including Health Alert, Wash-Net, Health for All Coalition and youth groups took part to the event.

Victor talked about his experiences from Washington DC, emphasising the importance of civil society engagement in strengthening the GFF process at country level. He also shared lessons learned from the GFF regional meetings in Nairobi.

Both the GFF regional meeting in Kenya and GFF World Bank meetings in Washington DC empowered him to understand the work of the GFF.

CSOs have a key role in holding government accountable and supporting them to meet their commitments on the GFF Investment Case.

He informed CSOs that at the global level, the GFF Civil Society Engagement Strategy has been developed and was approved by the GFF Investors Group in April 2017. CSOs in all GFF countries can use this as a guide for their own national CSO coalition on the GFF. Victor mentioned that the GFF country platform in Sierra Leone should have two civil society representatives, including a female, and a youth representative.

Rosie Le Voir from Evidence for Action-MamaYe presented an overview of the GFF. She also shared early ideas about a GFF accountability scorecard that could be used by civil society to track implementation of the GFF at country level. The scorecard will be piloted in Kenya and Nigeria in June 2017.

From the meeting in Freetown, I learnt that 16 countries are currently active under the GFF even though 63 countries are eligible for the GFF funding support based on government request.

We also agreed to:

Hold a meeting where CSOs will develop a plan in line with the GFF Civil Society Engagement Strategy
Follow up with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation on the status of the Sierra Leone GFF Investment Case
Incorporate other CSOs who were not part of the meeting to the RMNCAH/GFF civil society platform
Identify private sector to work with in order to achieve the goals of the GFF

It is widely believed that the GFF is a new era in development, a breakthrough financing model that galvanises resources from countries themselves, international donors and the private sector to accelerate advancements in the health of women and children.

Sierra Leone must not be left behind in this as the country is still suffering from high maternal and infant mortality.

On Thursday 11 May, we had the first civil society meeting on the Global Financing Facility (GFF) in Sierra Leone.

Approach Filter

Health Financing

World Malaria Day 2017: Impact of Malaria on Pregnancy

nimda — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 07:24:59 +0000

World Malaria Day 2017: Impact of Malaria on Pregnancy nimda Tue, 04/25/2017 - 08:24

There is an African Proverb which say

If you think you're too small to make a difference, you haven't spent a night with a mosquito.

These small creatures can make your night very unbearable with their noise and bites. You spend your whole night tossing and turning fighting off their bites and you try to cover your head with a pillow to cut out the noise they make. They are a nuisance!

But it’s not only the noise and the bites that are annoying and terrifying to the people bitten by a mosquito. But it is the disease caused by mosquito bite. People fear malaria in this country as it is one of the biggest killers.

According to WHO Country Health Profiles 2012-Malawi, malaria is ranked as the third cause of death in the country, standing at 6%. It is also ranked in the top five killers in Africa. The slightest sign of a fever causes one to rush to the nearest health facility to go for a malaria test. No one wants to take any chances with a mosquito bite or even a slight fever.

As the world today commemorates World Malaria Day, MamaYe Malawi wants to focus on the theme “Impact of Malaria on Pregnancy”. Pregnant women are at a high risk of dying from complications of severe malaria. As such, pregnant women are carefully monitored and encouraged to visit antenatal clinics after the first trimester for regular check-ups.

Malaria is a cause of miscarriage, premature delivery, stillbirth and severe maternal anaemia, and is responsible for about one third of preventable low-birth-weight babies. For pregnant women living in moderate-to-high transmission areas, WHO recommends intermittent preventive treatment at each scheduled antenatal visit after the first trimester.

In order to reduce the number of deaths resulting from malaria and/or anaemia, the government of Malawi together with its development partners have put in place strategies to prevent this preventable disease. One of the preventative strategies is to encourage people to be donating blood.

The country currently needs about 172,000 units of blood each year, of which 66% goes to mothers and children. Institutions such as Malawi Blood Transfusion Services (MBTS) have been working together with partners such as MamaYe Malawi to mobilize communities to donate blood by going to schools and various institutions.

A primary intervention which the government of Malawi and its partners have been advocating for is for all households in the country to sleep under a mosquito net or an insecticide-treated net (ITN). According to the recent 2015-2016 DHS, 63 percent of the population possess at least one mosquito net and 59 percent possess at least one ITN.

Children under the age of 5 and pregnant women are most susceptible to malaria, hence the government of Malawi has been pleading with its citizens to make sure that mothers and children under the age of 5 sleep under an ITN.

As much as the use of ITN has been effective in reducing malaria cases, there has been a continued abuse on how the nets are used in the communities. There have been a number of incidences where people have been using the ITNs as perimeter fences around their vegetable gardens or used as finishing nets.

Although efforts are being made to advocate for the proper use of the ITNs through various media houses and other interventions, behaviour change is still a long way to go to make people understand the intended use of the ITNs as a prevention for Malaria.

Malaria also has a negative impact in pregnancy which causes birth defects and stillbirths. According to the 2016 Lancet Series on Ending Preventable Stillbirths, an estimated 2.6 million stillbirths occurred in 2015 of which sub-Saharan African had the highest stillbirth rate (28.7 stillbirth per 1,000 total births).

In sub-Saharan Africa, 20% of stillbirths are associated with malaria, which could be prevented and treated during pregnancy. Another factor in reducing preventable stillbirths is improving access to high quality health care where health facilities have adequate drugs and skilled health personnel.

In conclusion, Malawi has the capacity to reduce incidences of malaria in pregnancy as evidenced in how the country has been able to implement its interventions in malaria integrated programs. MamaYe will continue to advocate for safe and healthy pregnancy for women and make pregnancy a joy for mothers free and safe from malaria.

Malaria is a cause of miscarriage, premature delivery, stillbirth and severe maternal anaemia, and is responsible for about one third of preventable low-birth-weight babies.

Approach Filter

Packaging Evidence

Using data to accelerate implementation of the SDGs

nimda — Mon, 20 Mar 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Using data to accelerate implementation of the SDGs nimda Mon, 03/20/2017 - 00:00

Today at the Commission on the Status of Women (UN CSW), an expert panel will discuss 'the availability and use of data and gender statistics to support gender equality and the empowerment of women with specific reference to the Beijing Platform for Action and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'.

The availability and use of data about women and girls is critical to closing the gender gap. When announcing an US$80million commitment to closing gender data gaps and accelerating progress for women and girls, the Gates Foundation stated:

Through reliable data, women and girls’ lives can become visible and counted, helping to inform programming and holding leaders to account.

At E4A-MamaYe, having data available to inform programming and hold leaders to account is a central tenet of our theory of change. Access to easily digestible information is crucial for evidence-based decision making, enables people to advocate for change and allows the public to hold leaders accountable for commitments.

We work with national and local level authorities and facilities to make data related to women, specifically the status of emergency, obstetric care available for them at health facilities and information on maternal and perinatal deaths, more readily available and used, support Champions to advocate for change and help policy-makers, civil society organisations and media work together through accountability mechanisms to ensure decisions on health budget and resources are backed by evidence.

This is not just a change for women, it’s a change for all.

Through the availability and use of evidence, we are supporting women and men to make maternal and neonatal survival a political priority.When women and men are empowered to achieve gender equality great things happen.

Today at the Commission on the Status of Women (UN CSW), an expert panel will discuss 'the availability and use of data and gender statistics.

Approach Filter

Influencing

Useful links

Learn more about visualising data to stimulate action

The latest evidence on Maternal and Newborn Health

Download: A report on the availability and use of data and gender statistics

Take a look at some great examples of women being bold for change: Claudia Temple, MamaYe Super Activist, Sierra Leone

Health ministry kicks off data collection

nimda — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 17:21:23 +0000

Health ministry kicks off data collection nimda Thu, 02/16/2017 - 17:21

Addressing Data Collectors and Supervisors drawn from the 13 districts on a ten-day SARA Data Collection training organized by the Directorate of Policy, Planning and Information at the Kona Lodge in Freetown on Tuesday February 14, 2017, Dr. Samuel Kargbo reminded trainees that the country suffered a lot as a result of incredible data collection. He pointed out that Sierra Leone is part of the global community that signed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and now the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for which credible and accurate data is an essential tool for the development of health indicators.

He informed his audience that participants were carefully selected through the Programmes and Directorates for people who were capable of delivering, adding that the survey is for people capable of moving to hard-to-reach areas with a view to producing the necessary results on the survey.

Dr. Kargbo re- emphasized the need for participants to take the survey with the seriousness it deserves and come up with a very reliable data that can be used for the planning of the country’s development.He noted the crisis period of the Ebola epidemic which created an opportunity to improve the health system, as it poses a lot of challenges in building a resilient health system.

Ebola survey recovery strategy

Dilating on the Post Ebola Recovery Strategy Dr. Kargbo spoke about the first 6 to 9 months plan meant to take us to zero and the 10-24 months Recovery Priorities to maintain the zero, improve maternal and child health, and building a resilient health system.

He implored participants to commit themselves in generating reliable data as they move on with the field work reminding them that poor data will undermine proper planning for the health sector, and commended WHO and Global Fund for their commitment and support towards the successful completion of the survey.

The WHO Technical Officer, Health System Strengthening, Dr. Adewale Akinjeji said the goal of the activity is for Data Collectors and Supervisors to be able to measures the progress made by Sierra Leone’s health system.He reminded participants that they all have the collective responsibility to ensure that the data collected is of good quality, adding that there is a popular saying that “what you cannot measure, you cannot improve”.

Giving an overview of the survey, the Research and Publication Specialist, Eddie Foday said the Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) was conducted in Sierra Leone in 2014/15 but was interrupted by the Ebola.

The objective of the survey Mr. Foday said is to assess and monitor service readiness and capacity at district and health facility level, and to have a common understanding of the Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) by participants.

He dilated on the training procedures and the roles and responsibilities of the trainees during the survey and the development of a detailed timeframe and plan for the field implementation.

The Planning Specialist Mr. Alhassan Fouard Kanu underscored the importance of the training and its values to assess the facilities on the readiness to provide quality services.He disclosed that the Directorate is conducting the first Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) since the Ebola outbreak to evaluate the status and degree of functionality of health facilities in providing high-level services for the people of Sierra Leone.

Mr. Kanu expressed optimism that what participants are going to acquire during the ten day training will help and guide the Directorate to plan better.

Credit MOHS/SLENA

Freetown, Feb. 15, 017

The Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) will provide a starting point for the development and validation of a comprehensive master list of health facilities across the country.

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Clinical Expertise

The numbers matter. Here's why

nimda — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 00:00:00 +0000

The numbers matter. Here's why nimda Mon, 02/06/2017 - 00:00

"The circumstances surrounding a stillbirth, neonatal and maternal death can be painful to recount. However, this process of reviewing deaths, or near-miss cases, can highlight missed opportunities in care, leading to fewer such cases in the future".

Kate Kerber, Africa Regional Specialist with Saving Newborn Lives/Save the Children (2016)

Worldwide more than five million babies die in the last few weeks of pregnancy, during labour or soon after delivery every year. Yet most of these babies’ deaths will not be marked with a death certificate and information on their cause of death will not be recorded. The 2016 Lancet Series on Stillbirths called the “neglected epidemic of stillbirth” an urgent global health issue. But for mothers it is often a personal and unspoken tragedy.

Why?

Kiguli et al’s piece on stillbirths in sub-Saharan Africa, detailed attitudes, cultures and practices that provide insight both into why stillbirths occur and why there continues to be silence around them. Among the many reasons for keeping quiet about the loss of a baby are: fear of accusations of withcraft, adultery and cultural norms around the expression of grief. However, public health practitioners have an important role to play here not only in helping mothers and families who suffer the loss of a baby (which can often do much to de-stigmatise the issue), but also in ensuring the data on number and causes of death are kept and reflected on.

The numbers matter. Here’s why:

In 2016, the WHO published Making Every Baby Count: Audit and Review of Stillbirths and Neonatal Deaths. The guide argues strongly that "counting the numbers more accurately and gaining a better understanding of the causes of death are key to tacking the burden of stillbirths that are estimated to occur each year".

With the numbers, facilities and local, regional and national health systems can better understand how to prevent stillbirth and implement policies and practices to ensure it happens.

In Nigeria and Ethiopia the MamaYe team is supporting the governments to expand their Maternal Death Surveillance Review systems to include perinatal review – counting the number of stillbirths and causes.

"Using the data generated by the MDSR system, we have the power to make evidence-based decisions that improve quality of care and target responses to where they will be most effective in saving lives. We are taking action in response to every death – from the community to the national level. This nationwide system has the power to save maternal lives now and for generations to come".

Ethiopian Minister of Health, Prof Yifru (2016)

More than five million babies die in the last few weeks of pregnancy, during labour or soon after delivery every year. Reviewing deaths can lead to fewer such cases in the future.

Approach Filter

Packaging Evidence