HEALTHMARCH 2O18/ ISSUE NO.5 NEWSLETTER Health Issues With this fifth edition of quarterly and Support to development of In this issue: health newsletter, Enabel and the Human Resources. Ministry of Health of Uganda want > BTC becomes Enabel to reach out to health workers all The Ministry of Health will use over Uganda and health policy this platform to communicate on > News from Ministry makers on both the national and health issues. of Health of Uganda district level. The newsletter will also give > ICB II and PNFP updates You will be updated on the a voice to health workers and development of our Institutional will keep you updated on the > Interview with Paul Asaba, Capacity Building project, on implementation of the new result- RBF focal person the Private-not-for-profit project based financing system. THE BELGIAN DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA Ministry of Health Enabel, a new name for the Belgian Development Agency On 1st January 2018, the Belgian The Belgian development policy brings partners and organisations together Technical Cooperation (BTC) changed focuses on inclusive economic growth, to put things in motion and foster change. name. The Belgian development agency is human rights and in particular women’s now called Enabel. The renewed agency’s and children’s rights, digitisation What is Enabel’s assignment? mission is to implement and coordinate and the least developed countries. the Belgian development policy. The Enabel implements Belgium’s name change and the broadened mission Why Enabel? governmental development policy. The of the Belgian development agency are agency actively explores assignments part of a major reform of the Belgian Enabel is a Belgian variant of the English and funding opportunities offered by Development Cooperation, which strongly verb enable, but with ‘-bel’ at the end. third party donors in view of assisting aligns the Belgian development policy Enabel means making things possible, and strengthening Belgium’s foreign with the Sustainable Development Goals. policy as a social undertaking. Why this reform? Enabel’s legal status With this reform the Belgian gov- The ‘Enabel’ Law was published in the ernment aims to better align Enabel, like BTC, is a public-law Official Belgian Gazette on 23 November its development policy with the company with social purposes. All 2017 following its approval by the Belgian 2030 Agenda for Sustainable contracts, agreements and commitments Parliament. This Law transforms the Development and the Sustain- signed or made by BTC remain valid. implementing agency of the Belgian able Development Goals (SDGs). governmental cooperation BTC into a Enabel is entrusted with more coordinating and implementing agency for autonomy, more competences and the Belgian development policy: Enabel. a broader mandate than before. This way, the agency is better equipped With this reform the Belgian government facilitating and empowering, which is to achieve its vision, to contribute to a aims to better align its development exactly what the Belgian development sustainable world where women and policy with the 2030 Agenda for agency does: enable partners to do men live under the rule of law and Sustainable Development and the what is required to achieve sustainable are free to pursue their aspirations. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). development in their country. Enabel helps create circumstances that enable development; Enabel supports, motivates, encourages and promotes change; Enabel 2 HEALTH newsletter Donation Of 41 Motorcycles To PNFP Health Facilities Implementing RBF By Peter Asiimwe Health facilities located in municipali- tie and towns were eliminated since he PNFP project procured 41 means of transport are fairly available. motorcycles (Honda) and donated them to 41 health facilities where Rwenzori region was allocated 20 T motorcycles while 21 went to West Nile. Likewise, hospitals were found to have ad- Result Based Financing is implemented. equate means of transport and were not Rwenzori region was allocated 20 The priority was given to remote health considered for this donation with the ex- motorcycles while 21 went to West Nile. centres with a poor road network ception of a few located in far remote areas. During the prequalification assess- Management of motorcycles ment for RBF, we found that most health facilities (especially HCIIIs) The motorcycles are registered in the did not have any means of trans- Some equipment including ultra names of Enabel and will remain the prop- port to enable even basic movements. sound scans and ECG machines erty of Enabel until the end of the project. will still be provided to Hospitals and Health facilities will ensure that Facilities were finding it difficult to HCIVs in a few months to come. the motorcycles are well main- conduct outreaches in far places. tained, insured and serviced. The health facility as an institution should These motorcycles therefore, are part of the have an official means of transport not only process by Enabel and Ministry of Health for outreach services but also for ease of to equip health facilities to make them have interaction with external stakeholders. capacity to provide better quality services. The RBF model we are implementing Selection of beneficiary health facilities requires that a facility has minimum ca- pacity to deliver quality services before 41health facilities re- payment for outputs can be considered. ceived a motorcycle each. The priority was given to remote To achieve this, the project provided some health centres with a poor road net- input financing in kind – medical equipment work. Facilities covering a wide catch- and medicines – at the start of the project. ment population were also prioritized. 3 HEALTH newsletter PNFP Update • Session 4 of the Strategic planning By Dora Anek Given that resources for health are finite, process was organised from 31st Janu- & Hannes De Meyer the payment structure used in this proj- ary until 16th February for all PNFP RBF ect keeps changing based on approved facilities and 16 districts in West Nile and clear technical/financial reporting and Rwenzori. The focus of this ses- The PNFP Project continues to register by the districts and the health facilities. sion was on formulating targets and in- success in supporting Institutional ar- dicators for strategic and operational rangements to shape incentives, which Snapshot of organised activities during objectives, staff planning and budget- affect health actors’ behaviours, and thus this last Quarter (January – March 2018) ing of the strategic plan (2018 – 2023). determine their overall performance. • Preparation of the Annual Results • Handover of 41 Motorcycles dur- The RBF payment structure in the Report 2017 during a Stakeholder meet- ing the first week of February to 41 PNFP project creates the potential for ing on 19th January 2018 focusing on Health facilities (21 in West Nile re- increased payments made to the Dis- progress and achievements of the year 2017 gion and 20 in Rwenzori region) tricts based on performance. While on the other hand, it emphasises the sig- • Supporting verification of the health facili- nificance of the design of the incentives. ties accredited for RBF in both Rwenzori and Results so far show that the project has West Nile in January and February 2018. successfully demonstrated the effect of The funds transferred after submission of Results Based Financing on the quality the district performance report and for ser- • Close follow-up and providing feedback and the quantity of services in the pri- vices delivered during the previous quarter to facilities and District Health Teams vate non-for-profit health sub sector in the can be used to pre-finance implementation contained in the previous validation com- two regions of West Nile and Rwenzori. of the activities of the following Quarter. mittees report and review together with the DHTs (RBF Focal Points) the veri- fication and support supervision plans. 4 HEALTH newsletter ICB II Update By Dora Anek Despite the complexity of the process of Snapshot of organized activities during RBF implementation no major obstacles this last Quarter (January – March 2018) Just coming out of a Mid Term Review have been encountered.During the first in November 2017, the team agrees quarter (January – March 2018), the In- • Preparation of the Annual Results re- that the most important expected impact stitutional Capacity Building II Project port 2017 during a stakeholders meeting of the project will be on policy making. continued to support activities with the on 19 January 2018 focusing on prog- aim of strengthening the health systems ress and achievements of the year 2017. Together with the PNFP project, the in the sector in the Rwenzori and West ICB II project is leading the way to insti- Nile regions where it implements in col- • Regional Health Forum successfully tutionalizing Results Based Financing laboration with the Ministry of Health. held for Rwenzori region on 30 to 31 as an alternative financing mechanism. January which brought together vari- ous stakeholders in the region to share ”In 2017, the project progressed success- The need for an adapted procedure for experiences and identify best practices. fully towards its objective to implement Re- medicine management under RBF was sults Based Financing in 29 qualified public identified and its development and approval • RBF Orientation Training from 7th health facilities in 8 districts of the West by the MoH is complete. to 8th February 2018 for