Mid-term evaluation of USAID enhancing quality of healthcare activity (EQHA) and promoting healthy behavior (PHB) activity : mid-term evaluation report

EQHA aims to improve the quality and safety of health services and strengthen systems, and PHB, to strengthen social behavior change (SBC) in Cambodia. USAID/Cambodia contracted Social Impact, Inc. to conduct a mid-term performance evaluation of EQHA and PHB in order to assess performance, identify constraints, and recommend actions for improvement. The evaluation team used mixed methods including document review, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions to identify findings that addressed USAID/Cambodia’s evaluation questions. The evaluation found that EQHA’s support for facility-based quality improvement, hospital accreditation, preservice training, private health sector engagement and regulation, and Health Professional Councils are of high quality and are collaborative but require continued support through EQHA and beyond to be institutionalized in the national system. Interventions at the local level and confined to a thematic area will need to be linked to broader impacts on the system. The evaluation also found that PHB has successfully begun to institutionalize its interventions, but further actions are needed to support sub-national entities to raise their profile and funding, engage the National Center for Health Promotion (NCHP) more actively in co-deliver work, and monitor SBC work. PHB needs to consider more substantive roles for Village Health Support Groups (VHSGs). The report makes 21 recommendations directed to EQHA, PHB, and USAID/Cambodia for improvements in implementation.