MERQ Consultancy in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Somali Regional Health Bureau organized a three day-regional design team (RDT) training as part of the implementation of the Human Resources for Health (HRH2) project in Jigjiga, capital of Somali regional state.
HRH2 Project, formally titled “Optimizing Health Workforce Performance and Efficiency in the Health Extension Program of Ethiopia” has held its kick-off meeting last month in collaboration with the Somali Regional Health Bureau (SRHB). Following the kick-off meeting, MERQ and SRHB teams jointly selected two typical woredas (Awbare from Fafan zone and Ararso from Jarar zone) for implementation, formed the regional design team (RDT) and planned the training to familiarize the RDT members with the project’s objectives and expectations.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Bedri Bishar Abdi, Health Extension Program Coordinator in Somali Regional Health Bureau (SRHB), underlined the importance of the RDT in identifying human resource challenges and developing context specific solutions. “This regional design team is expected to rigorously identify human resource related challenges bottlenecking the health system in our region,” he said.
Mr. Bedri Bishar Abdi, Health Extension Program Coordinator in Somali Regional Health Bureau (SRHB)
The SRHB’s RDT team is composed of relevant directorates from the regional health bureau, woreda health office representatives, health facility leadership and frontline health workers as well as community engagement volunteers including religious leaders, clan leaders and women development groups.
“We believe each category and each member have first-hand knowledge about the HRH related problems in our health system and its service delivery,” Mr. Bedri said, “You know the key challenges in every step, from your respective experiences and expertise”
Participants of the RDT training, during a group presentation
Mr. Bedri noted that the health system in pastoralist communities differ from those in agrarian settings and urged participants to focus on issues specific to the Somali Region. “There are lots of ground-level health system challenges, such as shortage of health workers, high staff turn-over, and poor-quality services, to mention a few” he said adding “So, we need to discuss the root causes for these and many more similar problems.” He further called on the RTD training participants to aim for solutions that specifically impact and ultimately improve the lives of the pastoralist communities.
Mr. Bedri also highlighted the particular challenge of deploying health workers to hard-to-reach areas, following the mobile communities and the need to optimize the current system through the HRH2 project. “Since 85% of our community relies on a mobile pastoralist lifestyle, my hope is that this project will establish targeted strategies to deploy the health workforce effectively, contextualizing services to match their mobile way of life.”
Mahlet Atlaw, Health System Research Coordinator at MERQ
Mahlet Atlaw, Health System Research Coordinator at MERQ, on her part said regional design teams will play a key role in identifying health workforce challenges, generating evidence from their respective contexts and propose relevant solutions. “Ultimately,” she said, “the central design team will synthesize the learnings from the evidences generated from the implementing regions.”
Mr. Yehualasew Getahun, Community Engagement and Health Extension Program Officer, MoH
Mr. Yehualasew Getahun, Community Engagement and Health Extension Program Officer, at the Ministry of Health also reassured that the Ministry remains committed to optimize the health workforce performance and efficiency of the health extension program (HEP), both at national and sub-national levels.
MERQ sincerely acknowledges the Ministry of Health for its leadership in advancing the HRH2 Project, the Gates Foundation for its generous financial support, and all partners contributing to the strengthening of Ethiopia’s primary health care.
