Third Quarter Report: Health Policy Plus

Agency for International Development (USAID) under Agreement No. AID-OAA-A-15-00051, beginning August 28, 2015. HP+ is implemented by Palladium, in collaboration with Avenir Health, Futures Group Global Outreach, Plan International USA, Population Reference Bureau (PRB), RTI International, the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood (WRA), and ThinkWell. The project aims to improve the enabling environment for equitable and sustainable health services, supplies, and delivery systems through policy development and implementation, with an emphasis on voluntary, rights-based family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH); maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH); and HIV and AIDS. HP+ also expands creative strategies to accelerate the pace of policy work and shape enabling environments through nuanced understanding of political, social, and economic influences on health, enduring public, civil society, and private sector partnerships, broader ownership of the health sector, more transparent and accessible information, and a rigorous program to capture, learn from, and share experiences. The project is divided into four result areas, which flow from the HP+ mandate and reflect the project's technical approach. These result areas include advancing sustainable health policy, financing, stewardship, transparency, and accountability; promoting RH/FP, HIV, and MNCH efforts at the global, national, and subnational levels; expanding creative strategies to accelerate the pace of policy work; and shaping enabling environments through partnerships, ownership, information, and learning. As of the third quarter of 2016, HP+ had concluded with $28,206,579 of cumulative funding, representing $2,500,000 (Core FP/RH); $6,037,500 (Core HIV); $525,000 (Core MNCH); and $19,144,079 (Field Support). The project had received approval of 13 workplans and submitted one which is pending approval. HP+ had also hosted a brown bag lunch led by Modibo Maiga at USAID on achievements and updates in the West Africa program and continued to expand staffing by hiring 20 field site staff and four Washington, D.C.-based staff. HP+ had accomplished key project results, including supporting the review of Kenya's National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) Act, which will impact delivery and financing of the benefits package (inclusive of HIV) to be paid by insurance. In Guatemala, a permanent exemption on procurements of vaccines, ARVs, contraceptives, micronutrients, and other items was enacted as part of a new law governing these health supplies. HP+ had also conducted core and field activity reviews with country and core teams to assess progress and address any challenges and issues, and implementation was on track. HP+ had submitted and had approved by USAID, HP+'s cost share and Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) plans. The project had developed detailed operational, contractual, and financial training library for field staff orientation and completed a second activity manager/country activity manager roles and responsibilities training for project staff. HP+ had also unveiled its external website (www.healthpolicyplus.com) and contributed thought leadership through peer-reviewed publications, including an article titled "Global Trends in Family Planning Programs, 1999–2014" and "Partnerships for Policy Development: A Case Study from Uganda's Costed Implementation Plan for Family Planning."