Medical laboratories are a critical component of quality health care and provide essential data for patient care and treatment, disease prevention and control, and public health policy development. I-TECH recognizes laboratory strengthening as a core component of its work. I-TECH’s Laboratory Systems Strengthening (LSS) team’s mission is to improve laboratory operations for optimal patient care and treatment, disease surveillance and response, biosecurity, and policy development. The LSS team fosters the development of sustainable laboratory systems and laboratory capacity in multiple countries throughout the world and comprises staff at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle, as well as locally based staff. The team leverages partnerships within UW and with external collaborators globally, and engages directly with Ministries of Health and funders to accomplish mutual objectives.
In addition to the highlights below, I-TECH also has had laboratory programs in Cambodia, Côte d’Ivoire, Lao PDR, the Middle East and North Africa, and Zambia.
Program Highlights
The EMR iSanté enables research on population health in Haiti, including the implementation of Option B+. This work was presented at the International AIDS Society Conference in 2015 Continue reading “Layering Research and Practice in Haiti”
Since 2005, I-TECH has drawn on expertise from the University of Washington and the University of California, San Francisco, to support the Ministry of Health (MOH) in advancing priorities in the areas of health information systems (HIS), HIS leadership and governance, Global Health Security (GHSA), and evidence-based Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) practices.
I-TECH Kenya’s programs aim to improve the quality of patient care and enable health care facilities to meet their health information, data collection, and reporting needs. I-TECH Kenya’s GHSA funded programs aim to advance the Global Health Security Agenda through strengthening information systems and reporting, and improving IPC in health care facilities.
In all efforts, I-TECH Kenya works closely with the MOH and local partners to develop and implement programs that can be successfully transitioned to local ownership, ensuring sustainable progress toward Kenya’s long-term health goals.
Program Highlights
The Republic of South Africa is working to meet the health challenges facing its people, which include a high HIV prevalence compounded by high incidences of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and tuberculosis.
In 2003, at the request of the National and Provincial Departments of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Global AIDS Program, I-TECH began work in South Africa to support the government’s Operational Plan for Comprehensive HIV and AIDS Care, Management, and Treatment.
In anticipation of National Health Insurance, the key health initiatives in South Africa currently focus on strengthening the primary health care system to provide greater access to quality care to the most vulnerable populations and to reach the UNAIDS 95-95-95 goals.
I-TECH in South Africa has worked with government and community leaders, individuals, and communities to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of the South African national HIV, STI, and tuberculosis responses. In all of its efforts, I-TECH has placed an emphasis on program assessment, monitoring and evaluation, and continuous quality improvement with sustainable local involvement to ensure programs can transition to local entities.
Current Program Highlights
Past Programs
It is critical that health care providers receive the necessary training to empower them to improve patient outcomes CHARESS supports both pre-service and in-service training efforts in Haiti. In particular, CHARESS is a key partner of MSPP in maintaining its national clinical guidelines. Continue reading “Workforce Development in Haiti”
I-TECH’s Health Information Systems Team lies within the Health Systems Strengthening division. The team has significant capacity in the rapidly expanding field of Health Information Systems for resource-limited clinical settings. I-TECH develops and deploys systems and provides technical assistance and training on electronic medical records, laboratory information management, disease surveillance, national eHealth architecture design, national standards for data transfer and system interoperability, and data use for improved clinical service delivery.
Program Highlights
Electronic medical record (EMR) systems have the capacity to improve clinical decision making and quality of care at site level but can also be leveraged to make data-driven, population-level public health decisions. At the request of the MSPP Continue reading “Health Information Systems in Haiti”
In partnership with CDC, CHARESS helps the Haitian MSPP to implement the national care improvement program, HealthQual, by training providers on quality improvement concepts and using data from the EMR, iSanté, for clinical decision making and improved care. Continue reading “Continuous Quality Improvement in Haiti”
In partnership with the Ministère de la Santé Publique et de la Population (MSPP) and the local nongovernmental organization (NGO) Centre Haïtien pour le Renforcement du Système de Santé (CHARESS), I-TECH implements programs to improve HIV services via a trained health workforce and robust health information systems (HIS) in Haiti. In June 2018, I-TECH successfully transitioned the country office in Haiti to the fully independent NGO, CHARESS, after years of strategic planning. Since the conversion to CHARESS, all of I-TECH’s activities are executed through the NGO.
Through CHARESS, I-TECH provides technical assistance to ensure that both national-level entities and health care sites are able to effectively use the integrated systems iSanté, the electronic medical record system, OpenELIS, the laboratory information system, and TrainSMART, the training participant management database. These allow for better decision making by providers, differentiated care for patients, and improved clinical performance through continuous quality improvement.
At the national level, the MSPP and the donor, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), are able to conduct national-level public health analysis using data from the systems. These analyses are used to modify policies and target assistance for better care and treatment of patients.
Currently, I-TECH focuses on three of the six World Health Organization health systems building blocks: health service delivery, health workforce, and HIS. Previously, I-TECH also supported the other three building blocks of leadership and governance, access to essential medicines, and health systems financing through the Centers of Excellence project that ended in September 2016.
Program Highlights
