Published 1 October 2015
Taking Stock can be applied to the way we run our household or the way we evaluate our eating and exercise habits. In life we sometimes stop and reflect and take stock on how far we have reached in our efforts to contribute to society either in the field of education, public health, and business.
FPD PHI Department facilitated stocktaking meetings with District and partners, to analyze performance against targets of preceding months to better impact the outcomes in our public health system. During stocktaking performance indicators are analyzed, action plans to address the gaps are designed with set targets, responsible person/s allocated and timelines are set.
UNICEF began stock taking meetings in 2009 following unacceptable high numbers of babies and infants dying of HIV infection due to direct transmission from mother to baby. Since then yearly stocktaking workshops have taken place and the impact on the mother to child transmission was dramatic. South Africa now has a MTCT transmission rate of 2.2% (down from >5). This year the 6th annual stock take exercise with UNICEF will take place to identify and focus on poor performing districts. FPD TA takes its stocktaking a step further and drills down to sub-district (and facility) level where the roving teams can provide the necessary technical support and input to ensure that action plans are not a theoretical exercise but are actively integrated in the quality improvement programmes of all facilities.
Over the last year the FPDs TA (PHI) Department, together with Department of Health in four districts, has convened for a 1-2 day stocktaking meeting each quarter. Derived from UNICEF’s concept, the FPDs “Beyond stocktaking” workshops aim to:
Compare DHP and sub-district indicator barometer progress since last stocktaking; review latest data from DHIS, NHLS, Surveys.
Identify inactive items on action plans to map out further activities per sub-district to ensure targets are met.
Focus on increased capacity for an integrated approach (within WHO building blocks) to solving program-related priority issues in health care delivery.
Identify new activities required to improve service delivery and patient outcomes.
During February 2015, the PHI Team along side, Nkangala and Vhembe Districts kicked off the 2015 beyond stocktaking agenda.
Nkangala sub district team (Emalahleni) was awarded for presenting the best improvement across the previous action plans.
Overall success of the sub-districts was:
Improvement in pregnant mother retesting rate (100%)
Trained admin clerks and counselors as data capturers to bridge the HR gap.
Improvement in cervical screening
Vhembe sub district team (Mutale) was awarded best presentation for District ownership and improvement across previous action plans.
Overall success of the sub-districts was:
A dramatic improvement in IPT from < 50% to > 90%! This is remarkable and justifies dissemination nationally.