I-TECH builds local ownership and sustainability through collaborations throughout Zimbabwe. Under the CDC and PEPFAR awards, I-TECH has formed and leads two consortia – ZAZIC and ZimPAAC.
Continue reading “Driving Collaboration with Local Implementation Partners in Zimbabwe”
I-TECH began the expansion of cervical cancer screening for women living with HIV aged 25-49 in Zimbabwe in 2019. I-TECH initially identified a provisional list of 89 sites for the implementation of visual inspection with acetic acid and cerviography (VIAC). The team then recruited, trained, and deployed dedicated VIAC nurses to 29 sites. Additionally, in an effort to improve service coverage in hard to reach areas without the necessary equipment, district teams carry VIAC equipment to outreach point facilities who have booked client appointments in advance. Random samples of images from clients are anonymized and sent to a gynecologist from the University of Zimbabwe for quality assurance.
Across all facilities, 9,664 HIV-positive women aged 25-49 years have been screened for cervical cancer with 93% testing negative, 6% testing positive for lesions, and 1% having suspected cancer.
In South Africa, the International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH) has begun facilitating an in-service skills development training program for community health workers (CHWs) and their supervisors in their roles on the Ward-Based Primary Health Care Outreach Team (WBPHCOT). To maximize the impact of this training, I-TECH is working with two PEPFAR District Support Partners across seven of South Africa’s nine provinces to reach an estimated 20,000 CHWS, which is approximately half of the country’s CHW workforce. Training began in February 2019 and will continue through September 2019.
The WBPHCOT In-Service Skills Development Package aims to strengthen the capacity of CHWs to provide high-quality health services in the community. The program emphasizes development of core, cross-cutting service delivery skills, including communication, screening, psychosocial support, ethics, and confidentiality that enable CHWs and their supervisors, known as Outreach Team Leaders (OTLs), to effectively carry out their work.
During training, CHWs and OTLs build their skills in both classroom and on-the-job settings using group discussions, case presentations, scenario-based role play, small group activities, and interactive presentations. Priority health conditions and related clinical topics are included, and the realistic scenarios cover all components of the CHW scope of work.
Leveraging Technology to Improve Training
All training data collected for the skills development program will be captured via a mobile application and stored using the CommCare platform, a mobile data collection system developed by Dimagi. The app allows I-TECH access to real-time data, which can inform targeted measures to ensure that all CHWs are receiving high-quality trainings.
To tailor the program to the needs and realities of the field, I-TECH has implemented a blended tablet and paper-based data collection approach.
“There is such a large number of CHW trainees in the field that using this blended approach allows the OTLs to dedicate their time to training CHWs rather than focus on paperwork,” says Ilyse Jacobson, I-TECH South Africa Technical Director of Programs. “This flexibility allows for more in-depth and efficient training.”
Due to its role as the sole repository for all training-related data, the CommCare database will also generate reports linked to an interactive stakeholder dashboard.
“The dashboard not only brings I-TECH’s data visualization and dissemination approach into the 21st century,” says Jacobson, “it allows project stakeholders access to the data that helps with decision-making both in and outside of this program.”
The design of the Stakeholder Dashboard allows donors, implementing partners, and the National Department of Health to track current progress against training targets on a weekly basis.
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 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.
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.
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.
Photo credit: Macpherson Photographers
There are an estimated 1.3 million people living with HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe and the country is severely impacted by this disease. For the past 16 years, I-TECH has worked collaboratively with the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) and other partners to strengthen the HIV response in Zimbabwe. I-TECH works together with local implementing partners and supports activities across the entire continuum of care from HIV prevention activities to HIV testing, immediate linkage to care and treatment services, management of opportunistic infections and retention in care and viral suppression.
In 2003, I-TECH began working in Zimbabwe by conducting an assessment of need and capacity for clinical and other HIV-related training in collaboration with Zimbabwe’s National AIDS and Tuberculosis Programs. With funding from HRSA, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), I-TECH provided a decade of technical support and assisted with the development of multiple training programs, evaluations, and laboratory systems strengthening.
In both 2013 and in 2018, CDC and PEPFAR awarded funding for I-TECH to continue and expand its work supporting the country’s HIV epidemic-control efforts through 2023.
In 2018, I-TECH Zimbabwe transitioned to the independent Zimbabwe Training, Technical Assistance and Education Center for Health (Zim-TTECH). Together, I-TECH and Zim-TTECH build local ownership and sustainability through collaborations throughout Zimbabwe. Under the CDC and PEPFAR awards, I-TECH and Zim-TTECH lead two consortia: ZAZIC and ZimPAAC.
