To address the UNAIDS Sustainable Development Goals for elimination of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other diseases by 2030, and the PEPFAR 3.0 goals, I-TECH leverages the technical expertise of its universities and partners, the broad experience of its funders, and best practices from 15 years of implementing programs.
The International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH) works in partnership with host country governments, universities, professional associations, non-governmental organizations, private sector groups and funding agencies to strengthen local capacity and build sustainable health systems.
I-TECH follows a partnership model that guides the provision of technical services and technical assistance toward local ownership and sustainability, creating projects and programs that can be readily transitioned into national systems.
Based at the University of Washington, I-TECH draws upon a strong global network of public health professionals. The approach described in this document is customized in each country to respond to local needs and priorities. In addition, each I-TECH country office team aligns the model with the unique Partnership Framework Implementation Plans of the partner host government.
I-TECH works with host country governments to assess existing health systems and identify specific areas where the delivery of health care could be improved. This early collaboration helps to ensure that technical assistance accurately reflects the country’s specific health strategies and priorities.
In each partnership, I-TECH develops roles, responsibilities, and timelines based on a long-term vision of integrating projects into existing national systems. As part of this vision, I-TECH recognizes and leverages the strengths and resources of national systems, building on and maximizing these efficiencies. The partnerships that emerge are attuned to the needs, realities, and structure of host country systems. Thus, they build and maintain lasting capacity within host country systems, maximize cost-effectiveness, and produce projects that can be more readily scaled up to meet national goals.
As a center based at the University of Washington, I-TECH has direct access to a wide variety of technical specialists. In addition, I-TECH draws upon a robust global network of locally based public health professionals. These specialists provide a wide range of technical expertise to meet project needs.
I-TECH is committed to technical services and technical assistance approaches that build upon and support the existing strengths of local health systems. In addition, I-TECH prioritizes the use of local and regional expertise, an approach that builds the capacity of local experts to meet locally determined needs.
I-TECH implements projects within a quality improvement framework designed to track progress in institutional capacity building and guide successful implementation. Using the framework, implementers monitor the progress of each project against specific benchmarks of success; for example, the progressive transfer of skills and capacity to local institutions. This methodology ensures that objectives are met and provides data to adjust approaches as projects evolve.
The ultimate goal of I-TECH’s partnership model is to improve health outcomes by strengthening local capacity and building sustainable health systems. I-TECH’s technical services and technical assistance are tailored from the initial planning stage to produce projects that can be successfully absorbed into national systems within mutually determined and realistic timeframes. Recognizing that a successful transition takes time, I-TECH offers transition support in a variety of technical areas including quality improvement and grant management.
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. Continue reading “Case Finding and Retention in Care in Mozambique”
Mozambique has one of the fastest growing economies in sub-Saharan Africa. Since the end of a 17-year civil war in 1992, leaders have worked to leverage country resources to build infrastructure and improve the quality of life for Mozambican citizens. Despite this promising growth, many public-sector programs are under-resourced, and much of the population still has limited access to quality health care.
With a population of 24 million, Mozambique has fewer than four physicians for every 100,000 inhabitants. More than 1.4 million people are estimated to be infected with HIV. The population also has high rates of tuberculosis and other respiratory diseases, malaria, and diarrheal diseases such as endemic cholera, all of which worsen the impact of HIV and AIDS when there is co-infection.
Drawing on expertise from its global network, including the University of Washington and the University of California, San Francisco, I-TECH began working in Mozambique in 2005. Since then, its technical support to the Ministry of Health (MISAU) has been focused on addressing the shortage of health care providers in the country through clinical training and curriculum revision and development. I-TECH also works to improve the quality of HIV prevention, care and treatment services, including antiretroviral treatment (ART) and voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC). Ongoing monitoring and evaluation (M&E) activities, including technical assistance to MISAU, measure the effectiveness of health care programs and provide quality data for decision-making and program improvement.
