Strengthening Cote d’Ivoire Patient Monitoring

Courtesy of Ami Vitale, World Bank

An October 2012 training of trainers (ToT) taught regional health data managers and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) experts how paper-based tools can help monitor systems and link patients to needed care. MEASURE Evaluation staff, along with representatives from Cote d’Ivoire’s National Medical Care Program for People Living with HIV/AIDS (PNPEC) and the Department of Information Planning and Evaluation (DIPE), facilitated the four-day training held at Hotel Berah in Yamoussoukro. 

After completing the ToT, participants can teach health facility workers how to use the tools, which include patient booklets, to properly assess patients’ needs and progress. Tools are focused on collecting HIV-related information, such as antiretroviral medication adherence, and carrying out tasks, such as discussing HIV counseling and testing with clinic clients. ToT participants were also trained on how to conduct better monthly reporting and analyze cohorts.

“All that information was really important to show them, to tell them, to reduce the lack of data,” says Traore Moussa, a MEASURE Evaluation data analysis and use specialist in Cote d’Ivoire. The training was essential to ensure data is accurately reported, he said. A total of 45 participants and facilitators took part in the ToT.

As health facility staff members use the tools to collect data, the information is entered into a national database, the Management Tool for Electronic Patient Files (referred to as SIGDEP), which helps track HIV monitoring site visits. SIGDEP also is being adapted to reflect the information gathered through the paper-based tools. The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief provided funding to the Cote d’Ivoire Ministry of Health to create these tools and also conduct the ToT.