Posters from Health Systems Global
The USAID SQALE attended and presented at the Global Symposium on Health Systems Research in 2018. They facilitated a panel as well as giving poster presentations. This session at the 2019 Learning Event provided a chance for community, county and national stakeholders to see how their work has been represented at the global level.
Creating a forum for shared learning and advocacy in strengthening community health systems
The USAID SQALE program has implemented simple, innovative, quality improvement capacity building for front line workers. County teams were brought together in events that created a dynamic, interactive learning environment. They ensured inclusive participation across cadres and levels of the health system.
High-quality data are essential to monitor and evaluate the performance, quality and equity of community health programmes. We conducted research in Kenya and Malawi and found there are large discrepancies in the values reported by Community Health Workers and those reported by their supervisors.
Universal Health Coverage needs to encompass a focus on health service quality. We explored how Quality Improvement can be used to improve quality of community health programs and their outcomes through implementation research.
Lately policymakers have been urged to include quality in any conversation about Universal Health Coverage. Now that discussion needs to expand to cover the lowest level of the healthcare system, community health. Our Community Follow-Up Tool has been tested as a ’rapid assessment’ approach for QI teams in Kenya. There is widespread acceptance of its utility from national to community levels.