Maternal and Child Survival Program MCSP Quarterly Report April – June 2018

MCSP supported immunization efforts by targeting regions and districts to operationalize the Reaching Every District (RED) and Reaching Every Child (REC) strategies for improving and sustaining immunization coverage. The program also supported disease surveillance efforts by scaling up and training three MCSP-supported regions and other Ministry of Health implementing regions on the electronic Evaluation of Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (eIDSR) system. In the area of pre-service education (PSE), MCSP continued to support the Lake Zonal Health Resource Center to oversee, plan, and implement PSE activities at partnering Health Training Institutions, including continuous supportive supervision and continuous quality improvement processes to strengthen classroom teaching, skills lab, and practicum trainings. MCSP also conducted a Cervical Cancer and Prevention (CECAP) outreach to screen women for cervical cancer and supported joint supportive supervision and clinical mentorship to maintain the quality of cervical cancer screening and treatment services in supported regions. MCSP provided technical support in the focused regions and councils through supportive supervision, with a total of 120 out of 622 health facilities supported and mentored on operationalization of RED in 19 MCSP-focused councils in Tabora, Kagera, Simiyu, and Shinyanga regions. The program identified several key challenges and worked with supervisors and supervisees to develop performance improvement plans to address them, including a great disparity in dropout rates between Penta3 and MR2. The program also supported the development of a GAVI Health System Strengthening (HSS) grant proposal for 2019-2023, which aims to access up to USD $39 million over the next five years to support program implementation. MCSP presented the progress on the GHSA-supported surveillance workplan to raise awareness amongst stakeholders on what needs to be considered for funding to ensure a streamlined system. In the next quarter (July 1 - September 30, 2018), MCSP Tanzania will focus on completing and transitioning activities under the routine immunization, PSE, and CECAP portfolios and documenting MCSP Tanzania's key achievements, lessons learned, and challenges to share with key stakeholders during the program dissemination meetings at both regional and national levels. MCSP continued to support the development of policies and guidelines, including the revision of the RED guidelines, which were revised in 2017 by MCSP and WHO Africa region. Countries were required to revise their country-level guidelines to reflect these updates, and MCSP supported the adaptation of these guidelines in Tanzania. The program also supported the integration of RED with other health interventions and the planning and management of resources, selecting and monitoring process indicators, engaging communities, reviewing the country supervisory checklist and core indicators, and the generation and use of data. MCSP worked with various stakeholders, including the Ministry of Health, UNICEF, WHO, GAVI, CHAI, PATH, Jhpiego, Red Cross, Amref Health Africa, and the President's Office-Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG), to support the development of the GAVI HSS grant proposal and the adaptation of the RED guidelines. The program also collaborated with the Regional Health Management Team (RHMT) and the Regional Reproductive and Child Health Coordinator (RRCHCO) to conduct CECAP outreach and support joint supportive supervision and clinical mentorship. MCSP continued to support the strengthening of health systems in Tanzania, including the development of policies and guidelines, the strengthening of capacity and improving skills of healthcare providers, and the integration of RED with other health interventions. The program also supported the operationalization of RED and REC strategies, the development of a GAVI HSS grant proposal, and the adaptation of the RED guidelines.