Using Health Facility Profiles as a Monitoring Tool: An Example Based on Data from Three African Countries

Author(s): Fronczak N, Fapohunda B, Buckner B, Schenck-Yglesias C

Year: 2007

Abstract:
Substantial investments have been and continue to be made to improve health services in countries with weak health systems. However, useful information on the status of services and the overall health systems within which they operate is rarely available. Sound decisions about where to invest resources to improve health services require knowledge of the existing health infrastructure, the services currently offered, the systems needed to support the services, and the availability of equipment and consumable supplies. As a first step towards improving access to this information, the International Health Facility Assessment Network has compiled a recommended set of core indicators that measure the presence or absence of minimal, basic standards for facility-based health based services. In this paper, Service Provision Assessment data from three countries (Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania) were used to calculate the core indicators and to develop a profile of the health facilities in these countries.