Experience in this Country
- Leadership, Management and Sustainability (LMS) Program 2005–2010
- Rational Pharmaceutical Management Plus Program 2000–2008
- Management and Leadership Program 2000–2005
- Strategies for Enhancing Access to Medicines (SEAM) Program 2000–2006
- Basic Support for Institutionalizing Child Survival (BASICS) 1999–2009
- International Network for Rational Use of Drugs Initiative on Adherence to Antiretrovirals (INRUD-IAA) 2006–2011
Leadership, Management and Sustainability (LMS) Program
2005–2010The Leadership, Management and Sustainability (LMS) Program develops managers and leaders who achieve results in the areas of reproductive health, HIV & AIDS, infectious disease, and maternal and child health. LMS works with health organizations in the public and private sectors to create sustainable programs and systems through improved leadership and management. By strengthening management systems and increasing system-wide leadership, LMS improves the performance of health care organizations at all levels, develops human resources, and builds the capacity to anticipate and respond effectively to changing external environments.
Rational Pharmaceutical Management Plus Program
2000–2008RPM Plus works in more than 40 developing countries to provide technical assistance to strengthen pharmaceutical and health commodity management systems. The program works to improve the availability and use of quality medicines, supplies, and basic medical equipment in the public and private sectors and to promote practical, sustainable changes in pharmaceuticals management by developing capacity within cooperating countries and fostering collaboration between countries.
MSH has a long-standing working relationship with the Tanzania Ministry of Health and in particular the Tanzanian Food and Drugs Authority (TFDA). Much of the work in Tanzania that RPM Plus is involved in today developed from initiatives started under the Strategies for Enhancing Access to Medicines (SEAM) Program (2000–2005). Current work includes expanding the Accredited Drug Dispensing Outlet (ADDO) initiative in Morogoro region, strengthening TFDA's quality assurance and pharmacovigilance programs, and providing support to the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI). In collaboration with the Basic Support for Institutionalizing Child Survival (BASICS) Project, the RPM Plus team is also working with the Ministry of Health to train ADDOs to properly recognize and treat pneumonia, malaria, and chronic diarrhea in children. BASICS and RPM Plus have also developed behavior change communications aimed at educating the public on when to seek health services and the importance of using government-accredited sellers for medicine purchases.
Management and Leadership Program
2000–2005The M&L Program was designed to improve the performance of leaders, managers, and organizational management systems, and improve organizations' ability to anticipate and respond effectively to the changing external environment. Working with public, private, and nongovernmental organizations at all levels of the health sector, M&L strengthened individual employee, organization, and national program performance. These improvements contributed significantly to the delivery of high-quality health services.
Since 2001, M&L has provided technical assistance to the Tanzania Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS), the organization charged with strategic leadership, advocacy, resource mobilization, and coordination of multiple sectors in Tanzania's fight against HIV/AIDS. With M&L support, TACAIDS's first three-year government budget was approved, and a TACAIDS $87-million proposal for integrating care and support for people with TB and HIV/AIDS in 45 districts was approved by the Global Fund.
M&L also helped design the Community AIDS Response Fund portion of the World Bank’s $65 million Tanzania Multisectoral AIDS Project (TMAP), and took a lead role in developing the Rapid Funding Envelope (RFE) for HIV/AIDS, a very successful funding mechanism that streamlines often cumbersome funding processes.
Strategies for Enhancing Access to Medicines (SEAM) Program
2000–2006The SEAM Program—created by MSH and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—was established to improve access to and use of essential medicines and other health commodities in the developing world. SEAM encourages and supports innovative, country-level public-private initiatives and complements the collaboration between MSH and the many organizations with which we work.
Tanzania was one of six countries or regions selected for a full-scale pharmaceutical sector assessment using the access to medicines assessment framework that was developed by SEAM in collaboration with WHO. The data gathered allowed SEAM to identify gaps in access to medicines and potential approaches to addressing those gaps. In Tanzania, activities included creation of a new type of accredited and regulated drug seller to improve access and quality of care in rural areas, development of a prime vendor/distributor system to improve availability of medicines throughout the mission sector, and establishment of a low-technology, low-cost approach to testing the quality of drug products coming into the country.
Basic Support for Institutionalizing Child Survival (BASICS)
1999–2009As a technical assistance partner for newborn and child health to the USAID Bureau for Global Health, the Basic Support for Institutionalizing Child Survival (BASICS) Project develops and implements strategies to reduce preventable infant and childhood deaths in the developing world. MSH works as a partner in BASICS, which began its third phase in October 2004. Under this indefinite quantity contract (IQC), BASICS assists USAID/Washington Bureaus, USAID field missions, host-country governments, donor agencies, NGOs, PVOs, research institutions, and the private sector to scale up and increase the use of newborn and child health and nutrition interventions by families, communities, and health systems.
Since 1993, BASICS has worked to achieve substantial improvements in coverage and to expand effective newborn and child health interventions. BASICS focus areas include newborn health, essential nutrition actions like vitamin A supplementation, immunization, integrated management of childhood illness, treatment of diarrhea and pneumonia, and malaria control. In addition to strengthening the delivery of basic newborn and child health services, BASICS has expanded its technical scope to include pediatric HIV & AIDS, birth spacing, and child survival and nutrition in complex humanitarian crises. BASICS areas of expertise include assistance to countries on comprehensive strategies or selected interventions for newborn and child health, building partnerships, delivery of quality newborn and child health services, community-based treatment and private sector approaches to expand access to services, and capacity building and training.
In Tanzania, BASICS is helping to assess the status of pediatric HIV care and ensure ongoing care of HIV-infected infants and children. Additionally, the BASICS team, in collaboration with the Rational Pharmaceutical Management Plus program (RPM Plus), is working with the Ministry of Health to train private medicine sellers—a common source of medical care in many communities—to properly recognize and treat pneumonia, malaria, and chronic diarrhea in children. BASICS and RPM Plus also developed behavior change communications aimed at educating the public on when to seek health services and the importance of using government-accredited sellers for medicine purchases.
International Network for Rational Use of Drugs Initiative on Adherence to Antiretrovirals (INRUD-IAA)
2006–2011The International Network for Rational Use of Drugs (INRUD) was established in 1989 to design, test, and disseminate effective strategies to improve the way drugs are prescribed, dispensed, and used, with a particular emphasis on resource poor countries.
Launched in September 2006, the INRUD-IAA initiative is funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. The objectives of the five-year initiative are to—
- Develop and validate a set of indicators that can be used to monitor adherence to ART
- Investigate adherence rates and determinants for these rates for ART programs and individuals in two target countries
- Pilot interventions to improve adherence in individual patients and in programs in two countries
- Establish the process needed for national AIDS control programs to scale-up successful interventions as part of national policy in the two countries
- Work with the other three countries in the region to develop national adherence policies and implement interventions to improve adherence
