Dear IHD Colleagues,
Below is our monthly IHD update outlining recent happenings in the Division. We look forward to receiving any feedback you may wish to share with us.
President of Malawi Publicly Backs Abt-Supported Health Finance Strategy
The Support for Service Delivery Integration – Systems (SSDI-Systems) project has worked with WHO/Malawi to support the Ministry of Health (MOH) with development of a National Health Accounts report for 2009/10 and 2011/12 and with the Clinton Health Access Initiative to do a health financing situation analysis and a technical evaluation of available health financing options. Using findings, a team led by SSDI-Systems supported the MOH in drafting the country’s first National Health Finance Strategy. The strategy is receiving high-level attention. Referencing the document at the country’s Third National Health Financing Summit, Malawi’s President, His Excellency, Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika, announced the government’s readiness to reform Malawi’s health financing system so that quality and affordable health services are accessible to all Malawians. Contact: takondwa_mwase@abtassoc.com.
Mike Egboh Comments on Nigeria’s Weak Health Sector on Aljazeera.com
Partnership for Transforming Health Systems Phase 2’s (PATHS2) Chief of Party (COP) Mike Egboh cites lack of coordination among donors and programs, lack of resources, and medical brain drain all as major challenges to Nigeria’s health system in a recent opinion piece on Aljazeera.com. Despite being Africa’s biggest oil producer and largest economy, Nigeria has one of the world’s highest child and maternal mortality rates. Egboh comments: “It's frustrating because a doctor, who can cure malaria and then doesn't have the tools, doesn't have the drugs, must watch a malaria patient die.” Despite these challenges, Nigeria has succeeded in preventing Ebola from spreading unchecked keeping confirmed cases to 19. Read more. Contact: m.egboh@paths2.org.
HFG Speaks on Health Financing in Angola
Joining presenters from Brazil, Cape Verde, Cuba, Mozambique, Portugal, UK, and Venezuela, Catherine Connor from the HFG Project was a guest speaker at the XVIII Scientific Conference (September 23-26) hosted by the philanthropic Fundação Eduardo dos Santos Angola. The theme of the conference was “Health and the Socio-economic Development of Angola.” Catherine’s presentation “Modelos de Financiamento” compared Angola’s health financing performance with the region and presented lessons from international reforms. The event was attended by about 150 government officials from the health, finance, social welfare, military, and other sectors. Following the event, HFG met with the Angolan Vice-Minister of Health and the USAID Mission Director to discuss HFG support to improve financial management and health financing policy. HFG congratulated the Ministry on the successful approval of the National Health Plan by the Council of Ministers on September 24. Contact: catherine_connor@abtassoc.com
Kazakhstan: Celebrating over a Decade of USAID-Abt Successes in MCH and Family Planning
With the US Ambassador and USAID Mission Director in attendance, the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Kazakhstan publicly recognized a decade of achievement of the Abt-led health care projects in contributing to the 65% reduction in maternal mortality rate in the country since 2004, and a 60% drop in early neonatal mortality since 2008. Over this decade, the Quality Health Care Project and its predecessor, the ZdravPlus Project, collaborated with the national MCH Institute to train over 2,000 OB/GYNs and 700 primary health care practitioners. Likewise, they institutionalized WHO-recommended antenatal care approaches within medical school curricula, allowing 4,500 medical students annually to receive training in evidence-based approaches to maternal, child, and neonatal health, and family planning. Contact: liza_myglina@qhcp.net or jeffrey_barnes@abtassoc.com.
Health Systems Strengthening II Jordan Celebrates Five Years of Accomplishments
At an end-of-project event held on September 22 in Jordan to celebrate the work of the Health Systems Strengthening II (HSS II) project (9/1/09-10/30/14), which worked to improve the health of families and citizens of Jordan, the Secretary General of Health reiterated the MOH’s commitment to sustain HSS II's successful programs by taking the lead to build on the project’s accomplishments. The USAID Mission Director, Beth Paige, commented: “The success of the project would not have been possible without the incredible passion and team work of the HSS II project team. Anytime you’re with this group, you can feel the energy and the passion about what they’re doing, and the results are seen every day.” The event opened with guests touring a gallery of posters highlighting project achievements and concluded with a viewing of an end-of-project video. HSS II is currently awaiting word on an 11-month bridge contract to continue assisting the MOH and other public health sector entities provide quality family planning, reproductive health, neonatal health, and maternal health services. Contact: sabry.hamza@hss.jo.
Abt Awarded Two-year AstraZeneca Healthy Heart Africa Kenya Contract
Abt has been awarded a two-year contract for nearly US$1M as the evaluation partner for the Healthy Heart Africa Program in Kenya. The program aims to promote awareness of associated risk factors and lifestyle modification for hypertension prevention, and to increase rates of screening, diagnosis, treatment, and control in a sustainable way. This five-year initiative of AstraZeneca U.K., a global research-based biopharmaceutical company, is being launched in Kenya with plans to expand in geographic scope. Abt’s role will be to design an evaluation framework and carry out monitoring and evaluation of the project as a whole to inform AstraZeneca’s strategy to replicate the program. The AstraZeneca win builds on Abt’s new business in the international non-communicable disease and evaluation space in a high-priority country with a new client. Contact: elizabeth_macgregor-skinner@abtassoc.com.
Latest Buzz…AIRS Wins!
USAID awarded Abt the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI)-funded Task Order 6 contract—Indoor Residual Spraying 2—which builds on our current work in the Africa Indoor Residual Spraying (AIRS) project. Under this three-year US$268M contract, Abt will continue to assist PMI in reducing the burden of malaria in Africa through indoor residual spraying; entomological monitoring; information, education, and communication; and capacity building in 14 African countries where malaria is endemic. Abt also will continue to support PMI in monitoring and evaluation of IRS as well as environmental compliance. This important win is a testament to our demonstrated excellence in on-the-ground implementation of the AIRS project, our outstanding coverage of IRS in some of the world’s most difficult countries, and our ensuring cost-efficiency and environmental safety while protecting more than 27 million people from malaria. Contact: bradford_lucas@abtassoc.com.
New Project to Extend Integrated Health Services across Borders in Africa
To help extend integrated health services in border areas and along select inland transport corridor sites in East, Central, and Southern Africa, Abt, as a sub to Family Health International, will help implement the five-year Cross-Border Health Integrated Partnership Project (CB-HIPP). The five-year project is funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through USAID. Under CB-HIPP, Abt will contribute to identifying and implementing alternative health financing models to strengthen the long-term sustainability of networked health and HIV/AIDS service delivery and, alongside a number of other international and regional organizations, support private sector initiatives to catalyze and support sustainable African-led collaboration for health and development. Additional partners include the African Institute for Development Policy, the African Network for Strategic Communication in Health and Development, Development Alternatives Inc., the Federation of East African Freight Forwarding Associations, Howard University, the International Organization for Migration, Medic Mobile, the National Organization of Peer Educators, North Star Alliance, and PATH. Contact: catherine_thompson@abtassoc.com.
Science and Practice Converge at Third Health Systems Research Symposium
Sixteen Abt participants, including CEO Kathleen Flanagan, joined researchers, policymakers, funders, implementers, civil society representatives, and other national and regional stakeholders in Cape Town September 29-October 3 for the third Global Symposium on Health Systems Research. IHD presenters actively contributed to the knowledge sharing and exchange with nine presentations and one satellite session. Attendee Bernard Kasawa, Community Team Leader from IHD’s Zambia Integrated Systems Strengthening Program (ZISSP) project in Zambia, was taken by the discussion reminding everyone that health issues are always political in nature and that pro-poor health policies are usually poorly targeted and lack proper beneficiary inclusion and exclusion criteria. Also from the ZISSP project, Deputy COP Elijah Sinyinza participated in discussions about the tendency to look for “challenges” when dealing with health systems rather than for enablers and opportunities. A debriefing on the event will be held in October to further share and exchange insights gained. Contact: catherine_connor@abtassoc.com.
Gael O’Sullivan Published in Journal of Health Communication
Congratulations to co-author Gael O’Sullivan for a recently published article in the Journal of Health Communication entitled “The Role of Health Systems and Policy in Producing Behavior and Social Change to Enhance Child Survival and Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: An Examination of the Evidence,” The article forms part of the journal’s special issue on population-level behavior change to enhance child survival and development in low- and middle-income countries. Contact: gael_osullivan@abtassoc.com.
Also Published – Alison Comfort and Co-authors in Malaria Journal
A study, “Association between malaria control and paediatric blood transfusions in rural Zambia: an interrupted time-series analysis,” led by Alison Comfort initially begun under the Health Systems 20/20 project and completed under HFG, has been published in Malaria Journal. The study aims to better understand whether malaria control scale-up frees up hospital-level resources, specifically blood, which can be used by other patients and for other conditions. The work represents a collaboration across a number of partners including the President’s Malaria Initiative, the Centers for Disease Control, and Macha Mission Hospital in Zambia, as well as input provided by Abt’s Zambia Integrated Systems Strengthening Project (ZISSP). The Abt research team included Kate Stillman, Ben Johns, Nancy Nachbar, and Yann Derriennic. Contact: alison_comfort@abtassoc.com.
Get Ready to Walk to End HIV
Join Abt in the Walk to End HIV fundraising walk and 5K-timed run benefiting Whitman-Walker Health, a non-profit, community-based organization that provides high-quality, comprehensive, and accessible health care in the Washington, DC area to those infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS. As a first-time “Copper Partner,” Abt is sponsoring a team of runners and walkers at the event which takes place Saturday, October 25 at Freedom Plaza (Pennsylvania Avenue and 13th Street, NW) at 9.15 AM. Contact Abt’s team captain, gregory_buchholz@abtassoc.com to register, or make a donation at the team webpage.
Upcoming Conferences: Abstract Due Dates, Notification Dates, and Acceptances
If you plan to submit an abstract or have an abstract accepted, please notify Liz Nugent.
American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) (November 2-6, 2014, New Orleans, LA) –7 abstracts accepted plus one oral presentation as part of a symposium
APHA (November 15-19, 2014, New Orleans, LA) – 6 abstracts accepted, 5 wait listed
Global mHealth Forum (December 10-11, 2014, National Harbor, Maryland) – 10 abstracts submitted
14th World Congress on Public Health (February 11-15, 2015, Kolkata, India) – 2 abstracts and 1 symposium accepted
Global Health Mini-University (March 2, 2015, Washington, DC) – Abstracts due October 23
Population Association of America (April 30-May 2, 2015, San Diego, CA) – 4 abstracts submitted, notices by November 10
Welcomes, Goodbyes – A Sampling
Welcome: Christel Tshikudi (transfer from field to Bethesda), Lauren Weir (SHOPS)
Goodbye: Jane Coleman, Carlos Cuellar (leave of absence), Sayaka Koseki , Adetayo Omoni, Ilana Ron, Tanvi Pandit-Rajani, Josh Rosenfeld
Looking to Hire
The below positions are currently available in the U.S and the U.K. All IHD openings can be found at: www.abtassociates.com/careers.
· Senior Analyst / Technical Program Manager, AIRS, Req 12743 – Posted 10/3/2014
· Associate / Private Sector Specialist, SHOPS, Req 9321 – Posted 9/3/2014
· Principal Associate / Portfolio Manager -Abt GB, Req ID 10343 – Posted 08/14/2014
· Senior Finance & Contract Analyst, HFG, Req ID 721 – Posted 7/14/2014
· Principal Associate / MNCH Strategic Lead, Req ID 3691 – Posted 4/2/2014
SAVE THE DATE!
October 17 – IHD Townhall
November 3 – Brown Bag Presentation: “10 Tips to Make Health Microinsurance Work” – 2:00-3:00 EDT (jeanna_holtz@abtassoc.com)
November 19 – IHD Quarterly Update
December 17 – IHD Global Staff Meeting