The Ministry of Health’s Pharmacy Division and the Securing Ugandans’ Right to Essential Medicines (SURE) program developed the Supervision, Performance Assessment, and Recognition Strategy (SPARS) to increase health workers’ ability to manage medicines through on- the-job training and support from a new cadre of Medicines Management Supervisors (MMS).

What distinguishes SPARS from previous supervision strategies is that the MMS visit facilities regularly and measure health facility progress using a standardized assessment tool with 25 indicators.

“Recognition” is a reward scheme for both MMS and health facilities that meet targets—MMS rewards range from t-shirts to net books, while facilities can receive stock books, dispensing trays, shelves, or community recognition events.