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Tuberculosis

To reduce the number of new cases of tuberculosis and improve diagnosis and treatment, I-TECH collaborates with governments and ministries of health to strengthen their health systems through facilitating trainings, advising on health policy and clinical guideline updates, supporting laboratory quality management, upgrading national health information systems, and implementing integrated TB/HIV care and treatment services.

Program Highlights

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Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision

I-TECH has developed extensive capacity and expertise in voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) program implementation and management by providing comprehensive VMMC services and/or technical assistance across Southern and Eastern Africa in Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. Technical focus areas include health policy and guideline development, including early-infant male circumcision and piloting and evaluating devices; external and internal quality assurance; demand creation and community mobilization; training; and direct service delivery – all built on a strong foundation of monitoring, evaluation, and learning. Since 2011, I-TECH has directly provided more than 660,000 VMMCs with an adverse event rate of less than 2%.

I-TECH promotes an integrated model, consistent with the Global Health Initiative (GHI) Principles, and supports data-driven program implementation and management. By working closely with the Ministries of Health, local partners, and communities, I-TECH ensures implementations are country-owned and foster strong health systems and sustainable programs.

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HIV Co-infection

Program Highlights

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HIV Care and Treatment

I-TECH provides technical assistance on the clinical care and treatment of HIV and related opportunistic infections on a continuum that ranges from direct patient service delivery, to training and mentoring health care workers, to the development of national policies and health systems infrastructure. In particular, together with ministries of health and other key stakeholders, I-TECH has developed numerous curricula and clinical mentoring programs to train health care workers to safely and effectively treat patients who have HIV and TB or other opportunistic infections at a level of care commensurate with national and international standards.

I-TECH has also assisted ministries of health to create national prevention and care and treatment guidelines for infectious diseases, which has lead to standardized care and treatment for HIV, including antiretroviral therapy (ART) dosing for adults and children.

Program Highlights

Improving HIV Care and Treatment across the Caribbean
I-TECH supports a variety of activities aimed at improving HIV care and treatment in the Caribbean region, such as on-site clinical mentoring, development of training curricula, and providing clinical support materials to improve care and treatment for HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean region ...
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Improving HIV Care for Key Populations in the Caribbean
Key, at-risk populations in the region include men who have sex with men (MSM), bisexual men, transgender women, and sex workers. In Jamaica, HIV prevalence among MSM was estimated at 32.8%,1 as compared to an estimated prevalence of 1.8% in the general adult population in 2017.1 Among transgender women, the ...
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Innovative Training Models in Tanzania
I-TECH Tanzania has implemented many pre- and in-service training initiatives and materials, as well as adopted TrainSMART ...
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Key Populations Preceptorship Program in Trinidad and Tobago
Reducing stigma and discrimination toward vulnerable groups in health care settings can have a positive impact on enrollment in care, retention in care and treatment, and viral suppression of HIV. The Key Populations Preceptorship (KPP) program is a simulated one-on-one patient-provider training program that brings together a health care provider ...
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Quality Improvement

I-TECH’s quality improvement approach emphasizes ongoing assessments of program aims and operations. Country projects apply continuous quality improvement (CQI) strategies targeting both programmatic and management activities. Small-scale, practical Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles are used to construct improvement goals, test proposed changes, and implement adjustments, leading to increased quality of operations, service delivery, and care.

Program Highlights

Continuous Quality Improvement Collaborative in the Caribbean
Since 2013, I-TECH has led quality improvement (QI) collaboratives in the Caribbean region, enabling multidisciplinary teams at health facilities to work toward a common goal of improving care and treatment for HIV-positive patients ...
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Case Finding and Retention in Care in Mozambique
I-TECH works with the Mozambique Ministry of Health (MISAU) to expand a pilot project to provide an assisted partner services intervention. The project is aimed at encouraging patients newly diagnosed with HIV infection to disclose their status to their partners, and bring them to the clinic for testing ...
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Quality Improvement (QI) of HIV Care and Treatment, and Expanded Clinical Mentoring in Mozambique
I-TECH provides assistance to MISAU in implementation of the national Quality Improvement for HIV Services (QIHS) Strategy, with the goal of improving HIV clinical care through the training of clinicians in QI cycles (Plan-Do-Study-Act) and mentoring to improve weak performance indicators. To expand the impact of its programming, ART Committees ...
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Site-level Data Improvement and Use in Namibia
I-TECH continues to focus efforts on the improvement of data quality and use of data to improve clinical decision making. I-TECH works at the site level to build awareness and buy-in for data quality and use among site-level management and health care workers. On-site I-TECH Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Officers ...
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Integrating Research and Practice

Program Highlights

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Monitoring & Evaluation

I-TECH’s monitoring and evaluation staff work to ensure the efficacy of health care training sessions and programs by applying their expertise in cost analysis, data collection, and measurement to rigorous evaluations of these interventions.

In addition to routine monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and continuous quality improvement (CQI), I-TECH designs and implements operations research (the application of research methodology to inform and improve program design and management) and special studies for both I-TECH country programs and our partners. These activities enable us to answer strategic questions concerning the selection and effectiveness of program interventions. The team analyzes and designs evidence-based solutions to increase relevance, access, and scope of HIV services.

Monitoring ongoing projects and programs allows for midstream corrections; key findings are communicated to managers and leaders to improve programmatic decision making. Results are disseminated through publication, when appropriate.

Additionally, I-TECH has significant capacity in the rapidly expanding field of health informatics for resource-limited clinical settings. I-TECH develops tools and systems—such as the Training System Monitoring and Reporting Tool (TrainSMART)—and provides technical assistance for electronic medical records, training management, and remote clinical diagnostic systems.

Program Highlights

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Implementation Science

I-TECH specializes in developing appropriate research designs and methods for application in resource-limited settings, to get answers to research questions in real time. A university-based program, I-TECH draws from experts in qualitative and quantitative methods in a wide range of theoretical and practical disciplines, including health economics, anthropology, health sciences, medicine, and education.

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Nursing/HCW Cadres

World Health Organization guidelines for placing all HIV positive individuals on antiretroviral treatment has intensified the demand for a competent and accessible global health work force that can accommodate 90-90-90 UNAIDS targets for testing, treating, and virally suppressing HIV patients. There is an urgent need to concentrate on effective, differentiated, and cost-efficient service delivery models that embrace high quality patient-centered HIV care as countries adopt and roll out Test and Start. Achieving 90-90-90 will require substantial shifts in how HIV services are staffed and delivered; different solutions, including task sharing, are still needed to reach targets. Over the past decade, a variety of non-physician cadres, such as nurse-midwives, clinical officers, and medical assistants, have contributed to growing evidence of task sharing’s positive contributions to HIV health outcomes in resource-limited settings.

Program Highlights

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Human Resources for Health

The effective diagnosis, care, and treatment of infectious diseases require a skilled and motivated health care workforce, and sustainable systems to educate and train those workers. I-TECH uses a systemic approach to build the skills and knowledge of, and foster attitude changes in, health care staff and those who train and educate them.

The following model outlines I-TECH’s human resources for health-based approach to achieving comprehensive patient-centered care. Each component of the model, including a strong enabling environment, supports an optimized health workforce as the foundation of an effective service delivery system.

Program Highlights

Improving Laboratory Quality in Cambodia
I-TECH’s laboratory program began in Cambodia in 2013 with the goal to improve operations and regional biosurveillance and biosecurity through improved laboratory quality assurance and management practices. In collaboration with the Cambodian Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), ...
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Key Populations Preceptorship Program in Trinidad and Tobago
Reducing stigma and discrimination toward vulnerable groups in health care settings can have a positive impact on enrollment in care, retention in care and treatment, and viral suppression of HIV. The Key Populations Preceptorship (KPP) program is a simulated one-on-one patient-provider training program that brings together a health care provider ...
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Laboratory Quality Stepwise Program in Cambodia
From September 2013 to September 2016, I-TECH conducted an implementation science research project to improve laboratory quality in Cambodia. The primary objective of the project was to implement a mentored laboratory quality stepwise implementation (LQSI) program to strengthen the quality and capacity of Cambodian hospital laboratories. As a result, target ...
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Nursing Efficiency and Task-Sharing in Tanzania
I-TECH Tanzania led the development of the task-sharing policy guidelines for Health Sector Services approved in 2016 as well as the policy’s operational plan. While task-sharing is a widely known HIV service delivery efficiency strategy, still there is continues gaps between national strategies and actual implementation at the site-level [1,2] ...
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