Skip to content

Health Systems Strengthening

I-TECH works to strengthen the following systems that support the provision of high-quality, sustainable prevention, care, and treatment of infectious diseases.

Strengthening Clinical Care and Treatment Systems

I-TECH clinical mentors work to strengthen the provision of care for people living with HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and sexually transmitted infections (STI) by assessing and making recommendations for improvements to service-delivery systems. Clinical mentors pilot and implement draft tools, algorithms, and guidelines that help providers offer quality care. I-TECH also applies quality improvement strategies such as Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles to construct improvement goals, test proposed changes, and implement adjustments that lead to increased quality of operations, service delivery, and care.

Strengthening Health Information Systems

I-TECH has significant capacity in the rapidly expanding field of health informatics for resource-limited clinical settings. I-TECH develops tools and systems and provides technical assistance for electronic medical record, training management, and remote clinical diagnostic systems.

Strengthening Laboratory Systems

I-TECH strengthens laboratory facilities by equipping labs with up-to-date materials and supplies, designing laboratory information systems, providing training, and supporting the introduction of new diagnostics.

Strengthening Training and Education Systems

I-TECH, a center in the University of Washington’s Department of Global Health, draws on deep clinical and pedagogical expertise to strengthen educational institutions that coordinate, design, deliver, monitor, and evaluate courses, degree programs, and workshops on HIV and other infectious diseases.

Clinical Assessment for Systems Strengthening (ClASS)

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), with support from the International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH), developed the ClASS framework in 2008 to promote long-term sustainability and country ownership of high quality HIV/AIDS programming. Since then, ClASS has built the capacity of 99 organizations, including governmental and civil society organizations, to manage programs in 17 PEPFAR countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, and Eastern Europe. From its initial development, the ClASS framework involved input from a variety of global health partners including HRSA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Ministries of Health, and civil society organizations.