The Capacity Project is working with two districts in Zanzibar to pilot and test a range of productivity improvement interventions at the health district and facility levels.

At a workshop in June, facility and district-level staff and human resources staff from the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare developed district treatment plans by selecting evidence-based, inexpensive and realistic interventions to implement. On September 18, the Project held a follow-up meeting. Since June, participants have made significant progress on a range of interventions at the pilot sites. For example, all primary health care units posted signs with their hours of operation and services. Weekly planning meetings commenced at most facilities, supported by daily work plans for individuals. Baseline information was collected on the status of productivity-related systems. Participants involved health workers at their facilities in the design, implementation and testing of the interventions.

The pilot implementation team agreed to meet quarterly to discuss progress, obstacles, priority areas for technical assistance and the impact of pilot interventions on baseline productivity and quality-of-care levels. Findings from the intervention phase will be used to develop a productivity improvement model for use in other countries.

October 2007

See also Zanzibar Health Care Worker Productivity Study: Preliminary Study Findings.