Management Sciences for Health to Strengthen Health Systems in Ten Countries

January 08, 2018

Management Sciences for Health to Strengthen Health Systems in Ten Countries

Project awards range from infectious disease prevention to health financing and disability inclusion in South Sudan, Afghanistan, Syria, Angola, Cambodia, Madagascar, Mali, Myanmar, Niger, Pakistan, and Togo

Arlington, VA—January 8, 2018—Management Sciences for Health (MSH) announced today that it has been awarded funding to strengthen health systems in ten countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The work will focus on community health care in South Sudan, training of health workers in Northern Syria, HIV and AIDS services for key populations in Angola, tuberculosis in Afghanistan, and services for persons with disabilities in Cambodia, Madagascar, Mali, Myanmar, Niger, Pakistan, and Togo. 

“We are delighted to have these new opportunities to make a difference in the lives of millions of people around the world,” said Marian W. Wentworth, MSH’s President & CEO. “These programs illustrate the breadth and depth of MSH’s capabilities across a variety of disciplines that are crucial for any strong and well-functioning health system.”

This new funding comes from donors including UNICEF, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

“MSH’s work, in some of the world’s most challenging environments, has saved and improved countless lives, and yielded many important lessons learned,” said Catharine Taylor, Vice President of MSH’s Health Programs Group. “These new programs will apply that experience and expertise, and the knowledge and insight of our partners in government, civil society, and local communities, to achieve real impact and put in place a solid foundation for strong, effective, sustainable health systems.”

The new programs include the following:

Making the investment case for community health care in South Sudan

MSH was selected by UNICEF-South Sudan to support the national Ministry of Health in developing an investment case for financing implementation and scale-up of the Boma Health Initiative (BHI). MSH will compile and analyze evidence on the total costs, required financing, funding gaps, and expected impact of introducing and scaling up the BHI, which will strengthen community health service delivery by providing an integrated package of health promotion, disease prevention, and treatment. This work builds upon MSH’s previous collaborations with UNICEF in developing the Community Health Planning and Costing Tool (piloted in Sierra Leone and Malawi) and supporting the Madagascar Ministry of Public Health in reformulating its National Community Health Policy and Strategy. It also builds on MSH’s previous work in South Sudan, through the USAID-funded Challenge TB project, to improve integration of tuberculosis diagnosis and care (including at the community level) and to strengthen the capacity of the National Tuberculosis Program at the central and state levels.

Training partners on service costing in northern Syria

The ongoing emergency in Syria has significantly impacted the ability of the health sector to deliver services and assist populations in need. To address this, WHO’s Northern Syria Health Cluster adopted an Essential Health Service Package (EHSP) that details a set of health services to be guaranteed across health facilities in northern Syria. WHO asked MSH to conduct a cost analysis of the EHSP, documented in a report released in March 2017, and has now engaged MSH to train partner organizations working in the region on how to accurately identify and analyze the costs of these essential health services. These trainings, which are taking place in neighboring Turkey, will strengthen partners’ advocacy, resource generation, planning, and budgeting.

Strengthening Angola’s HIV/AIDS response

UNDP, the Global Fund’s principal recipient for work with key populations at risk of HIV in Angola, selected MSH for the project, Strengthening the National Response to HIV/AIDS in Angola, which will complement work already being carried out by MSH under USAID’s LINKAGES across the Continuum of HIV Services for Key Populations Affected by HIV, a cooperative agreement funded by PEPFAR and USAID and led by FHI 360. Working in Luanda Province, MSH will support local civil society organizations to strengthen community services for key at-risk populations, including a drop-in center for survivors of gender-based violence and leadership and community organizing support for female sex workers. 

Supporting the independence of people with disabilities in seven countries

MSH has been awarded a new contract by The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to strengthen the capacity of physical rehabilitation centers in Cambodia, Madagascar, Mali, Myanmar, Niger, Pakistan, and Togo to provide appropriate, high-quality physical rehabilitation services to help their clients with physical disabilities gain (or regain) mobility. Building on its longstanding partnership with the ICRC, developed under the USAID-supported Leadership, Management and Governance Project from 2012 through 2017, MSH will improve the operational efficiency of selected rehabilitation centers, with a focus on developing inspired and inspiring leadership, sound management, and consistent, transparent governance. Efficiency improvement measures that demonstrate significant impacts on service delivery during the project will then be implemented in three newly-constructed centers in Nigeria, Mali, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, before eventually being implemented in all ICRC-supported rehabilitation centers worldwide.  

Studying tuberculosis among Afghanistan health workers

The government of Afghanistan has selected MSH to implement a Global Fund-supported study to determine the magnitude of TB disease and infection among health workers in 10 provinces, complementing ongoing MSH research in 15 other provinces. This award reinforces MSH’s technical leadership on TB control in Afghanistan.