Ethiopia’s Health Extension Program (HEP) works to improve access to and utilization of care, recognizing that a major factor underlying the poor health status of the country’s population is the lack of physical access to health services. The program has deployed more than 30,000 frontline community health workers in health posts in rural communities across Ethiopia where they deliver services in four major areas. Health posts are expected to be staffed by two female Health Extension Workers (HEWs), women nominated by their communities and receive one year of training in public health, hygiene, health promotion, and certain interventions. Oversight, training, and support of HEWs are provided by Health Centers. HEWs train and supervise at least one volunteer Community Health Worker (vCHW) to provide health education and promotion services as well as make referrals.

To date, the HEP has resulted in encouraging achievements such as access to sanitation, increased immunization, family planning, malaria services, and cost-effective DOTS programs (Datiko and Lindtjorn, 2010). The success of the program can be linked to key factors including political commitment of both health and political stakeholders and local ownership by communities and local political bodies. However, studies have shown that the HEP requires improvement in certain areas of management and health services such as supportive supervision from the Woreda level (Negusse et al., 2007), supplies of drugs and equipment, a well established referral and follow-up system, good transportation and communication systems, and in-service refresher training (Haines et al., 2007). The absence of these factors has placed limitations on the effectiveness of HEP and the performance of HEWs and vCHWs.

The Uganda Ministry of Health (MoH) Quality Improvement Strategy Meeting was convened in Kampala, Uganda, on March 21–22, 2011. The meeting provided a forum for various departments within the MoH, selected partners, and international improvement experts to share experiences, clarify the role of Government partners, and discuss lessons learned from implementing health care quality improvement initiatives at national and local levels. The MoH Quality Assurance Department (QAD) together with the United States Agency for International Development Health Care Improvement Project (HCI) organized and supported this meeting. 

Dr. Henry Mwebesa, Commissioner of QAD, chaired the meeting. Dr. M. Rashad Massoud, Director of HCI and Senior Vice President of the Quality & Performance Institute, University Research Co., LLC, designed and facilitated for the meeting.

Throughout the two days, participants shared their experiences with quality improvement (QI) efforts across multiple levels of the health sector, identified challenges and interventions while implementing QI, and made recommendations for harmonizing and sustaining QI efforts in Uganda. Examples discussed were from Uganda, Afghanistan, Sweden, Niger, South Africa, Ethiopia, Russia, and Palestine. 

This report summarizes the key discussions during the meeting.

Lessons learned from programs serving orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) affected by HIV/AIDS have revealed the need to improve quality in OVC services and to strengthen harmonization across partners around the questions: How can our programs make a measurable difference in children’s well-being? What are the range of essential actions that we all agree need to be part of a service to best to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on children and families, in the pursuit of efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability?

Several countries in sub-Saharan Africa have joined together in the quest for improving quality of services, through the USAID-funded Care that Counts Initiative, implemented by the USAID Health Care Improvement Project. These countries are engaged in applying the “science of improvement” to OVC services by 1) defining quality using service standards, 2) organizing for improvement at the point of service delivery; 3) and gathering evidence on the draft service standards that can be shared across countries. This case study highlights how Save the Children, as the leading organization of the USAID-funded Positive Change, Children, Communities and Care Program, together with local non-governmental organizations, and community-based organizations in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, applied the science of improvement to pilot test the draft service standards.  The case study describes the design and organization of the pilot of draft service standards and the tools used to document and measure results from community level improvement activities. This case study has a “sister” case study developed by Save the Children that concretely details the actual results of implementing the standards, entitled "Communities in Action: Improving Quality in Service Delivery for Enhanced Wellbeing of Children in Ethiopia."