Overview

Primary health care (PHC) is the foundation of a strong health system and plays a pivotal role in attaining universal health coverage (UHC), enhancing health security, and nurturing healthier communities. Effective PHC performance management is integral to strengthening PHC systems and realizing better health outcomes for communities.

In Ghana and Rwanda, district health management teams (DHMTs) have elected to participate in the multi-year PHC Leadership Development Program (PHC-LDP) under the PHC Performance Management Activity, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This initiative, marked by experiential learning and performance management, seeks to empower DHMTs to enhance leadership and management practices, identify and tackle challenges within the health system, and achieve measurable results through increased PHC system performance and enhanced health outcomes.

This activity’s approach to promoting locally driven and sustainable PHC performance consists of four main components:

• Data dashboards: Co-designed, integrated dashboards will utilize routine and additional data to track key PHC indicators, guiding operational decisions made by DHMTs.
• PHC-LDP and Challenge Model: A six-month action-planning process will strengthen DHMT leadership and governance, utilizing available resources to improve PHC performance. Ongoing mentoring and coaching will support data-driven priority setting, monitoring progress, and adapting strategies.
• Catalytic grant funding: Fixed obligation grants will enable DHMTs to implement their action plans, maintaining autonomy over fund execution.
• Continuous inter- and intra-district learning: DHMTs will engage in collaborative learning and share challenges and best practices for PHC performance management to inform the next implementation cycle. Cross-district collaboration will be encouraged, culminating in a national learning workshop.