Bringing Operations Research to Life_Nyangara_5.2.12

Bringing Operations Research to Life

Florence Nyangara, PhD. (ICF/MCHIP)

CORE Spring Meeting, May 2nd, 2012

Wilmington, DE

Session Outline

I. Background

II. Presentation of 3-Case Studies -: Benin, Honduras, and Nepal

III. Summary -: key take home messages

Objectives of OR Session

Understand how to start, implement, and use OR results

Feel empowered to go start applying OR to resolving your own program problems

Growing Interest on OR Need for knowledge to scale-up high impact interventions

Need for information to guide key program decisions, e.g. How much it will cost to implement an intervention?

Need to test innovative programming approaches – to inform practice, policy, operational guidelines, etc

Need to arrive at “best practices” through comparisons

Operations Research

Operations = Program ActivitiesResearch = Capturing what is happening in a

systematic mannerGoal: Information Use (publishing alone is not

enough) - to improve programming i.e. change practice, guidelines, policies, etc

USAID Response: CSHGP/OR Support

23 OR studies across 21 countries (2008-2011) FY Cohorts: 2008; 2009; 2010; and 2011

Local Relevance: •Health indicators,•Evidence of national priorities

Global Relevance: •Problem occurs in many countries and programs

•Persistent problems over the years (e.g. Mal-Nutrition)

Partnerships for OR

USAID/CSHGP & MCHIP Provide Program Oversight and OR Technical Support

Partner community &

community committees

Academic institutions

• North (9)• South (8)

Other local partners(Government,

USAID/Mission, public health partners, CBOs, Private

sector)

Other international partners

(INGOs, UNICEF, UNFPA, WFP, WHO)

OR focuses on national, regional or local community priority health issues(23 health challenges identified in 21 countries)

• Access to the community

• Relationships with the partner community

• Research expertise in key areas

(i.e., experience in community-based participatory research and public health practice)

• Administrative and infrastructure capacities

• Community engagement and partnerships

• Training

• Communication

• Dissemination

• Evaluation

• Use of evidence

• Collaboration

• Leveraging resources

• Global dissemination of evidence

CSHGP Tests Innovative, Scalable Solutions through Operations Research (23)

Introductio

n

Scale-u

p

Community Care Groups for MNCH

demand and access (Burundi, Rwanda)

Health System Integration for Continuum of MN Care (Nepal, Ecuador, Honduras,

Zambia)

Public-private partnerships to improve health equity (Honduras, Bangladesh)

CCM – Acceptability, delivery, policy (S. Sudan, Burundi, Nepal, Rwanda)

mHealth: (Indonesia, Timor-Leste, Afghanistan)

CHWs performance & sustainability (Pakistan, Benin, Malawi)Cross-sectoral synergies

(Nepal, Rwanda)

Integration of MCH & FP (Malawi)

Male Involvement in MN (Nicaragua)

Community-based Health Information Systems (Sierra Leone, Guatemala, Indonesia, Ghana)

CSHGP Innovation Grantees: Case Studies

CHS Benin 2010 Cohort: Tests impact of CHW payment and quality improvement Intervention and comparison groups

CFI Honduras 2009 Cohort: Tests impact of integration (UCOs) on utilization, client costs. Before and after comparisons

HKI Nepal 2008 Cohort: Tests an integrated cross-sector nutrition model RCT (Randomized)

Case Studies Presentation Format

“How you get started”-- - CHS/Benin Project (Marthe Akogbeto/Sara Riese)• Questions

Implementation -- CFI/Honduras (Alfonso Rosales)• Questions

Dissemination/Use -- HKI/Nepal (Jennifer Nielsen)• Questions

General Q&A -: questions, comments Conclusion -: key take home messages