MNH Kampala Slum project

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Maternal and Newborn (MaNe) Health Kampala Slum Project

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) in collaboration with Population Services International (PSI) and Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH) have received a three year (2019-2021) grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for an implementation science project (The MaNe project). The project is composed of three core functions;

i) Implementation function-to be jointly led by PSI and KCCA.

ii) Evaluation & Learning function-to be led by MakSPH.

iii) Policy function-to be led by KCCA. KCCA will work closely with PSI to continually disseminate learnings and effective approaches to improving MNH for the urban poor. Consequently, effective approaches will be adopted and scaled-up to address urban MNH needs in collaboration with Ministry of Health and other stakeholders.

What’s the MaNe project scope?

The project will be implemented in the slum communities and informal settlements in the divisions of Rubaga and Makindye in Kampala city. The project will initiate and test innovative interventions/approaches to address the demand and supply side barriers affecting illness recognition, care seeking, effective referral and provision of quality care equitably for better MNH outcomes in urban slum settings in Kampala city. The interventions to be tested includes:

i) Harnessing the mixed health care system to address the needs of the urban poor: The MaNe project will involve interventions to improve access to quality and affordability of MNH services to the urban poor. Quality will be addressed through improving availability of relevant medical supplies and commodities for MNH and continuous provider trainings and mentorships. Affordability of MNH services in private health facilities will be addressed through coming up (or leveraging on existing ones) with innovative financing mechanisms to facilitate subsidies on MNH services for the urban poor.

ii) Improving illness recognition, care seeking and referral linkages using social networks and social media platforms for the urban poor: Social Behavior change (SBCC) interventions to increase demand for MNH services by the urban poor will be rolled out. The urban poor and their social networks will be targeted using the Urban Village Health Teams to reach women and their social networks both at home and work-place.

iii) Building a referral system for demand generation and linkages between health facilities: An emergency call and dispatch Centre will be set-up by KCCA as well as an ‘Uber-like’ ambulance system. Public and private ambulances will be hosted on an ‘uber-like’ application and these will facilitate referrals from community to facility and inter-facility. Communities and health providers will easily call upon an ambulance using their phones in case of an emergency.

What’s the expected benchmark of the MaNe project?

The project will generate evidence/learnings on effective approaches for improving MNH for the urban poor that can be scaled-up in other urban settings within Uganda and world-wide.

Investigators

Dr. Peter Waiswa (MD, MPH, PhD)

Dr. Dorothy Balaba (MB, MPH)

Dr.Okello Daniel (BDS, MSc)

Hirschhorn, Lisa R(M.D)