Advancing Partners & Communities at the American Evaluation Association’s Annual Conference

November 06, 2017 to November 11, 2017

Join Advancing Partners & Communities (APC) at the American Evaluation Association’s annual conference, Evaluation 2017, from November 6-11 in Washington, D.C. The conference’s theme, “From Learning to Action,” will explore the four ways that communities can learn from evaluation to improve practices. Global health practitioners will showcase how to use evaluation data and build the capacity of stakeholders to learn throughout the project life cycle, improving implementation and improving health outcomes. APC is presenting the following sessions:

Strengthening Sierra Leone’s Capacity to Provide Health Services: Assessing Improvement in Community Level Health Facilities in 5 Districts

When: Wednesday, November 8, 4:30-6:00 p.m.

Where: Madison B

Who: Soumya Alva, Nikki Davis, Isotta Pivato

What: Sierra Leone’s health system was severely affected by the Ebola virus disease epidemic that affected the country from May 2014-December 2015. In 2014, a survey of Peripheral Health Units (PHUs) conducted by UNICEF demonstrated gaps in four major areas: training of health staff, medical equipment, diagnostic capability at the facility level, and stockouts of essential medicines. To address these gaps, the USAID-funded Advancing Partners & Communities project supported recovery activities carried out by the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, focusing on reproductive, maternal, neonatal, and child health in PHUs in five districts in Sierra Leone. We present evaluation results that will inform donors and country stakeholders, showing improvements in the PHUs ability to provide health services in the five districts based on results of a comprehensive facility assessment covering health staffing, their knowledge of health practices, infrastructure, and availability of medical equipment conducted at the baseline (early 2016) and endline (early 2017) assessments

Post Ebola Health Reconstruction in Sierra Leone: Using a Needs Assessment to Design a Project

When: Friday, November 10, 11:00-11:45 a.m.

Where: Roosevelt 4

Who: Marc Cunnginham (USAID), Soumya Alva, Nikki Davis

What: Sierra Leone was deeply impacted by the 2014-2015 Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic, which highlighted critical gaps in the health system, including lack of infrastructure, trained health facility personnel, and necessary medical equipment. Results from a rapid baseline assessment in five districts in Sierra Leone covering 268 community level health facilities to inform a $15 million USAID funded post-EVD health reconstruction project showed that i) over 50% of facilities were in poor physical condition, ii) about 50% had a fully functioning facility management committee guiding community and facility interactions with the government, iii) over 50% of staff lacked recent training in key maternal and child health topics, iv) no facilities surveyed had a fully functioning delivery kit. This paper highlights the assessment process, the findings, and their use to plan activities to enhance community level health service provision.

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