Saving Maternity Homes in Ghana, Innovate for Health Year 1 Annual Report

The project aims to revitalize private maternity homes (PMHs) in Ghana to expand access to quality maternal and child health services. The project focuses on six regions in Ghana: Brong Ahafo, Western, Central, Eastern, Volta, and Northern. Ghana is experiencing rapid economic growth, but significant health challenges remain, particularly in rural areas. The Government of Ghana has taken steps to address these challenges, including the launch of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). However, access to healthcare in rural areas remains limited. Private maternity homes are essential providers of health services in rural areas, but the sector has experienced a decline in recent years due to aging midwives and facility closures. GRMA estimates that 100 PMHs have closed in the past five years. The SMH project began in October 2014 and aims to increase awareness of ownership and management transformations, and facilitate these transformations directly in the target regions. The project will develop the capacity of PMHs in business continuity planning, broker the transfer of declining or closed PMHs to interested investors, leverage financing and investment to improve quality and expand service delivery, provide business strengthening and clinical capacity building to new owners, develop the capacity of GRMA, and conduct operations research to understand the effectiveness and potential replicability of the project's design. Participating PMHs will receive various levels of project support, ranging from basic peer support visits to training in business continuity and clinical services strengthening, to support for effectively implementing an ownership/management transformation. The SMH project theory of change posits that the project can take specific steps to facilitate ownership/management transformations, and that these activities will result in increased sustainability and expanded operations of PMHs in rural areas of Ghana, thereby improving access to maternal, neonatal, and child health services. Year 1 of the project included innovations, achievements, and significant learning. The baseline assessment, conducted during quarters 2 and 3 of FY15, provided valuable insights into the project's design and implementation. The assessment identified key challenges and opportunities for the project, including the need to develop the capacity of PMHs in business continuity planning and to broker the transfer of declining or closed PMHs to interested investors. The project has made significant progress in developing the capacity of PMHs in business continuity planning. The project has provided training and technical assistance to PMHs on business continuity planning, and has facilitated the transfer of declining or closed PMHs to interested investors. The project has also made progress in developing the capacity of GRMA, including improving GRMA's office communications and operational systems, strengthening GRMA's capacity to support PMHs quality of services, and strengthening the programmatic and management capacity of GRMA. The project has also conducted operations research to understand the effectiveness and potential replicability of the project's design. The research has provided valuable insights into the project's theory of change and has identified key challenges and opportunities for the project. The project has also made significant progress in improving access to maternal, neonatal, and child health services in rural areas of Ghana. The project has faced several challenges, including the need to develop the capacity of PMHs in business continuity planning and to broker the transfer of declining or closed PMHs to interested investors. The project has also faced challenges in developing the capacity of GRMA and in conducting operations research. However, the project has made significant progress in addressing these challenges and has achieved several key milestones, including the development of the capacity of PMHs in business continuity planning and the transfer of declining or closed PMHs to interested investors.