Initiatives Inc. is dedicated to improving the health of individuals in the developing world. Our work is aimed at strengthening health systems, improving quality health care, and reinforcing NGO and community organizations. Through our technical assistance to governments, NGOs and intergovernmental organizations, we offer practical approaches to improving primary health care systems, scaling-up HIV/AIDS initiatives, building better reproductive health and family planning programs, initiating innovative safer motherhood programs, and strengthening child health initiatives. Our technical expertise also contributes to improving management, training and human resources systems across the globe.

Meeting the HR Challenge: Proceedings from the Community Health Worker Regional Meeting

Under the USAID-funded Health Care Improvement Project, Initiatives Inc. planned the Community Health Worker (CHW) Regional Meeting held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from June 19 to 21, 2012. It was attended by over 60 government and non-governmental (NGO) representatives from six African countries as well as participants from international NGOs and organizations.

The objectives of the meeting were:

To provide a forum for policymakers and program managers to share best practices, innovations and challenges in CHW programming.
To familiarize participants with the CHW AIM tool and its applications, including assessment, evaluation and improvement of CHW programs.
To develop a framework for analyzing key constraints and enablers for achieving functional, scalable and sustainable CHW programs.

The global shortage of health human resources is estimated to be 4.3 million; the dearth of health workers presents significant challenges to meeting the overall health needs of communities. One of the ways countries have sought to plug this gap and increase access to essential health services is through the recruitment and deployment of community health workers.

At the request of the USAID Maternal and Child Health (MCH) team, the USAID HCI Project developed the Community Health Worker Assessment and Improvement Matrix (CHW AIM) Toolkit to help measure and improve CHW program functionality. With the body of knowledge that has been collected on CHW program functionality in the last few years, HCI, together with USAID and UNICEF, convened the CHW Regional Meeting to expand the discussion of CHW program functionality, sustainability and scalability and to build understanding of and capacity in using the CHW AIM tool. Please click the link below to read the meeting report.

For more information please see the HCI project page.

USAID Guyana Safe Injection Project Success Stories

The Guyana Safe Injection Project (GSIP) is a 12-month project funded by USAID and implemented by Initiatives Inc. GSIP aims to promote comprehensive, sustainable, country-owned and managed infection prevention and injection safety (IS) programs that safeguard health care workers, patients and communities.

Initiatives is proud to share two success stories of individuals. One profiles a new trainer from Linden Hospital who has spearheaded injection safety improvements at the facility; the other profiles the sustainability of strategies initiated under the previous phase of GSIP. Please click here to read these inspiring stories. For more information on GSIP II please click here.

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