Baylor Foundation Uganda supported local governments in Eastern, Rwenzori and Bunyoro regions to address staffing gaps for professional and technical health workers, who are well-motivated to perform their functions at selected health facilities. To enhance the competences of these health workers, we offered in-person and virtual trainings, mentorships, attachments, continuous professional development (CPDs) sessions and provided expert consultation through the Call Center.
Trainings: During FY 2022/23, we conducted a total of 18 different trainings, reaching 8,391 participants with an average knowledge gain of 31%. Among these, there were trainings in: the National Medical Stores Client Self-Service Portal (CSSP) training, Leadership & Governance training, point-of-care (POC) viral load for pregnant & lactating mothers, Health Unit Management Committee (HUMC) site level trainings, SAVIX Management Information System (MIS) Training, Cervical Cancer for Health workers to improve positivity yield, Shang Ring training, Mentorship skills, IPC Refresher training, Intensified support POC VL & EID POC testing services, TOT on TB-Orphaned and Vulneral Children (OVC integration, Emergency Resuscitation training, Accelerated TB-OVC Integration & Innovation trainings, HIV Testers Certification, ToT for HAS-HIS on 2022 HIV Guidelines, Young People and Adolescents Peer Support Programme (YAPS) supervisors’ training, and the Integrated Community Approach. Leveraging the Experience of Care and Health Outcomes (ECHO) cost efficient structures put in place, we were able to successfully conduct virtual trainings with similar knowledge gain outcomes.
Mentorships: We also conducted at total of 20 different mentorships that covered cervical cancer screening, TB/HIV collaborative services, care and treatment, HIV testing services, EMTCT, post training mentorship on active case finding, IPC, AP3 mentorships at HC IIs; SGBV; KP/PP services, cervical cancer screening and treatment; CoT; HTS, supply chain and medical logistics management; DSDM; NACS and CQI. A total of 8,631 mentees and 256 health facilities were reached.
While the supply chain and medical logistics management mentorship led to improvement in ordering and reporting in Bunyoro, the Continuity of Treatment (CoT) mentorship resulted in the reduction in misclassification of clients and improvement in client follow up within 7 days. Additionally, we were able to optimize our mentorship program through the mentorship standardization process in the Rwenzori region.
Furthermore, we conducted five-day regional mentorship skills training of 50 lead mentors who subsequently facilitated district-based two-day orientation meetings for an additional 173 mentors. These were then approved/accredited by their districts and assigned specific sites to mentor with each allocated his/her workstation as well as two nearby sites. Prior to conducting mentorship activities, pre-mentorship meetings were held to ensure uniform engagements at health facilities, and the mentors used agreed-upon standardized mentorship tools. These were monitored through regular virtual mentors’ meetings using the 46 ECHO/ZOOM facilities and other personal gadgets; as well as selected physical monitoring during mentorships, with feedback provided in real-time. Preliminary observations by the mentors indicated an improvement in report writing; improved participation in the mentors’ meetings; and contributed to improvement in viral load coverage.
Internships: We hosted 42 students for internship. As part of the evaluation, interns noted that the internship arrangement is well designed to build the capacity of the interns.
CPD sessions: We consistently conducted weekly continuous professional development (CPD) sessions for staff. the major successful undertaking was the revival of weekly CPD sessions in Bunyoro region (see graph above). leadership support, role of focal person, availability of schedule was some of the tested changes implemented.
