Niger

The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a new strategy on people-centered health care that places a strong focus on the re-orienting the health system as a whole, including the importance of engaging community and patient groups. ASSIST principles of people-centeredness are complementary to the WHO strategy, particularly with respect to coordination and continuity of care, information, and the micro-level interactions between a client and the health care service delivery team that promote or hinder people-centeredness.

In this 7 minute video, UNICEF reports on a programme to train community health workers to provide life-saving services in the hardest-to-reach places in Niger. [adapted from publisher]

This report details the results and impact of a human resources for health quality improvement intervention in Niger. The approach focused on teaching evidence-based human resources interventions that will improve health outcomes. [adapted from author]

This report describes pioneering work where quality improvement methods are being applied to strengthen human resources management and performance at the facility, district, and regional management levels to improve maternal care in Niger’s Tahoua Region. [from summary]

This report details two assessment in Niger - a rapid assessment of human resources systems including the current recruitment, deployment, reward, supervision, evaluation, training and career advancement systems from the central to the district levels; and a site-level assessments that looked at the impact of those systems on health workers and at their overall engagement. [adapted from summary]

This brief outlines a collaborative to improve health worker performance and improve the quality and efficiency of maternal care services by building the capacity of local management and health workers to implement sustainable improvements in maternal care provided in Tahoua. [adapted from author]

This presentation discusses an ineffective incentives effort to retain rural health workers and suggestions for more useful interventions.

This study examines the relationship between IMCI compliance and three cost issues: the length of client-provider consultations, treatment drugs, and workload. The setting was 26 health clinics in Niger, the only developing country setting where QA was implemented before IMCI. [publisher’s description]

Research on the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) shows that it is a scientifically sound way to treat sick children, but ways to ensure that it is implemented properly are lacking. This 1997-98 study examined and compared three implementation approaches: structured feedback of performance data, structured feedback of performance data where quality improvement (QI) teams were in place, and the formal World Health Organization training in districts with QI teams.

For a health district to function, referral from health centres to district hospitals is critical. In many developing countries referral systems perform well below expectations. Niger is not an exception in this matter. Beyond obvious problems of cost and access this study shows to what extent the behaviour of the health worker in its interaction with the patient can be a barrier of its own. [from abstract]