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URC/CHS Projects
Health & Population
HCI/Calidad en Salud II, Guatemala
Client: United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Guatemala (USAID/G-CAP)
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A Guatemalan mother smiles after her
son received medical care at a local health center |
This 60-month TASC2 Global Health contract was awarded to URC to support the Ministry of Health (MOH) of Guatemala and its partner NGOs to improve the management of available resources. The project is working to expand access to quality health services, especially for isolated and disadvantaged populations. Calidad en Salud II builds on the accomplishments of the first Calidad en Salud project, which successfully expanded the availability of family planning services and improved child health at the community and primary care levels. In September of 2008, Calidad en Salud II and the Health Care Improvement (HCI) project began collaborating together to further support the development of Guatemala’s health systems.
The principal strategies being implemented by the MOH with the support of URC during project execution include:
- Participation of communities, clients, health workers and managers in improvement of health care;
- Emphasis on achieving results by using quality assurance and continuous improvement across integrated strategies;
- Scale up of successful activities to more communities, health centers and hospitals, in the highlands and the rest of the country, emphasizing underserved areas and remote communities;
- Focus on institutionalization and sustainability of program successes; and
- Fostering leadership among health care providers, managers, and communities.
Successful activities will be scaled up to communities, health centers, and hospitals throughout Guatemala, with an emphasis on underserved areas and remote communities in the highlands areas.
URC Services
URC provides technical assistance to the MOH and its partners in six major project components:
- Family Planning and Contraceptive Security: In partnership with the Ministry of Health’s National Reproductive Health Program, URC is developing and executing strategies to increase access to family planning services, especially in the highlands, to stimulate demand for these services, and to meet unsatisfied demand.
- Maternal and Neonatal Health: Strengthening and expanding implementation of the Essential Maternal Neonatal Health Care (EMNC) model throughout the eight priority departments and increasing access to services. Training traditional midwives to become better skilled birth attendants.
- Nutrition Interventions for Women and Children: Improving and expanding current nutrition-related programs, strengthening community growth monitoring, and identifying new approaches to further address chronic malnutrition.
- Child Health. Strengthening and integrating child, maternal, and reproductive health at community and facility levels, particularly in health centers and hospitals. Supporting the Ministry of Health’s Conditional Cash Transfer Program.
- STI/HIV Prevention and STI Treatment: Updating standards and improving quality of care at existing STI/Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) centers extending services to 34 health centers. Sensitizing health providers to stigma and discrimination behavior.
- Quality Management Systems Improvement: Support is being provided to the MOH for the establishment of a culture of quality and the implementation of processes such as acquisition, storage, inventory, budgeting, distribution, technological support, and customer service, as well as others. Assist with ISO:9001 certification.
The project also supports the MOH in other related areas, including:
- Advocacy and policy dialogue. Implementation of advocacy techniques and tools to enhance policy dialogue at different levels.
- Health Systems Management: Strengthening management support systems, including logistics, monitoring and evaluation, supervision, information systems, human resources development, and financial planning.
- Health information systems. Strengthening health surveillance systems and the usage of geographic information systems.
- Information, education and communication for behavioral changes (IEC/BC): Support will be provided for the implementation of IEC/BC strategies and tactics, and technical and financial assistance will be provided for the design, testing and production of materials and job aids.
For more information, contact
Rodrigo Bustamante
Chief of Party
Calidad en Salud II
15 Avenida A 24-13
Zona 13
Guatemala 01013
rbustamante@calidad.com.gt
Vanessa Clemens
Project Coordinator
University Research Co., LLC
7200 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 600
Bethesda , MD 20814
vclemens@urc-chs.com
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