Rwanda IHSSP project Quarterly Report Narrative April – June 2011

The project is implemented by Management Sciences for Health and funded by the United States Agency for International Development. The project's main goal is to strengthen the health systems in Rwanda, with a focus on improving the utilization of data for decision making and policy formulation, strengthening financial systems, leadership and management, and quality improvement. In the area of Health Management Information Systems (HMIS), the IHSSP worked to establish an integrated roadmap for the upgrade of HMIS and the roll out of a health indicator dashboard, in collaboration with University of Oslo consultants. The project also worked with the Ministry of Health (MOH) TB team to add denominators, modify their routine data collection form, and create queries to calculate new indicators. IHSSP staff provided support to MIGEPROF for costing of the Integrated Child Protection Strategic plan and worked to incorporate revised routinely collected indicators into the Health Center and District Hospital monthly reporting formats. Building capacity of data managers and M&E officers was also a key activity during the quarter. IHSSP conducted four HMIS data use training sessions around the country, with approximately 30 participants each time. The PRISM assessment continued during the quarter, with PRISM data analysis beginning with support from the IHSSP team and CDC's HMIS advisor. IHSSP also helped to prepare the distribution plan for 33 generators for health facilities. In the area of Community-Based Health Insurance (CBHI), the main activities during the period from April 2011 to June 2011 included the second phase of data entry for the UBUDEHE (Social Stratification) Data Base, social stratification data validation, CBHI procedure manual development, and CBHI membership database design. The costing of health services exercise continued during the quarter, with a preliminary mini-report for the costs of health center services produced before the availability of a full analysis report. Clinical PBF counter evaluation and system audit continued under the HDP sub-contract, with IHSSP supporting the MoH/PBF unit to conduct the PBF system audit and the community client survey. IHSSP also continued its involvement in the development of the PBF procedure manual document, which will be the reference document for all PBF-related activities in Rwanda. In terms of strengthening leadership, management, and improved human resource productivity, the IHSSP/HRH team continued to support the MOH to operationalize the HRH strategic plan, train district hospital staff on the Workload Indicators for Staffing Need (WISN), and support health professional bodies. The IHSSP/Quality Improvement team, in collaboration with the MoH and partners, continued the accreditation policy, procedure & guideline (PPG) review and development, with more than 25 sets of PPG developed.