Year 2 Quarter 2 and Semi-Annual Report: Support for Service Delivery Integration - Systems - Malawi

The program is implemented by Abt Associates and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under Cooperative Agreement AID-612-A-11-00002. The program's primary objective is to provide technical assistance to Malawi's Ministry of Health (MoH) in support of improved policies, management, and leadership, as well as fiscal responsibility. The program focuses on six key results: increased and coordinated advocacy for and implementation of evidence-based policies, strengthened strategic management and leadership capacity of MoH, improved and strengthened zonal supervision structures of the MoH, improved leadership and management of human resources for health (HRH), improved decentralized management of district health services, and strengthened health financing mechanisms, financial planning, and budget execution capability at national, zonal, and district levels for sustainability. In the second quarter of year 2 (January-March 2013), the program made significant progress in achieving these results. Under Result 1, the program collaborated with the MoH Policy Development Unit (PDU) and the Office of the President and Cabinet to finalize and submit the Health Policy Development and Analysis Framework to the MoH management. This framework will guide health sector staff in the systematic and rigorous development of evidence-based health policies in Malawi. The program also developed training materials to institutionalize the policy framework within the health sector. Additionally, the program supported the development of the National Health Policy (NHP), the National Guidelines on Health Surveillance Assistant (HSA) Task Shifting, and other strategic guidelines, policies, and strategies. A 2-day MoH senior management workshop was held to review the draft NHP, and the program continues to provide support for the actual drafting of the document and synthesizing and inserting inputs. The program's progress against Result 1 work plan milestones is captured in Table 2. The program also demonstrated progress across all result areas in relation to policy, guideline, and strategic plan review and implementation activities. Out of the ten policy/strategy/guideline processes the project is currently supporting, the HRH Strategic Plan and the District Implementation Planning (DIP) Civil Society Organization (CSO) Engagement Guidelines are at stage 5, which is the implementation phase. The National Health Financing Strategy, the National Health Policy Development and Analysis Framework, the NHP, and the National Guidelines on HSA Task Shifting are still in stage 3, which is the drafting stage. The program's overall progress is a testament to its commitment to strengthening the health care system in Malawi. The program's efforts to support the development of evidence-based policies, improve management and leadership capacity, and enhance health financing mechanisms will have a lasting impact on the country's health care system.