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Human Resources for Health in Maternal, Neonatal and - HRH ...

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Scal<strong>in</strong>g up of the Navrongo service model<br />

The experience of Ghana demonstrates how strategies tested <strong>in</strong> the successful Navrongo<br />

experiment helped to guide national health re<strong>for</strong>ms that resulted <strong>in</strong> the community-based<br />

<strong>Health</strong> Plann<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> Services (CHPS) <strong>in</strong>itiative that has been rolled out across all districts <strong>in</strong><br />

the country. CHPS <strong>in</strong>volves mobiliz<strong>in</strong>g volunteerism, resources <strong>and</strong> cultural <strong>in</strong>stitutions <strong>in</strong><br />

order to support community-based primary health care.<br />

<strong>HRH</strong> are central to the success of these <strong>in</strong>itiatives which h<strong>in</strong>ge on mobile resident nurses<br />

deliver<strong>in</strong>g care <strong>in</strong> villages rather than outreach or facility based services. In response to poor<br />

services at community level, which was mostly due to the location of community health<br />

nurses (CHNs) <strong>in</strong> health cl<strong>in</strong>ics, the Navrongo experiment <strong>in</strong>volved retra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g, renam<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong><br />

recertify<strong>in</strong>g CHNs as Community <strong>Health</strong> Officers (CHOs). These resident health care<br />

providers worked out of health compounds that were donanted <strong>and</strong> constructed by the<br />

community. This accessible nurs<strong>in</strong>g care reduced childhood mortality by 16 percent dur<strong>in</strong>g<br />

the five years of program implementation (Pence 2005). The CHPS adaption of this service<br />

model emphasises community mobilisation, ownership <strong>and</strong> the use of community structures<br />

<strong>for</strong> service delivery. The District <strong>Health</strong> Management Team (DHMT) <strong>and</strong> community leaders<br />

are responsible <strong>for</strong> the support <strong>and</strong> supervision of the CHO who travel from compound to<br />

compound via motorcycle provid<strong>in</strong>g care to approximately 3000 people with the assistance of<br />

community volunteers (Nyonator, Awoonor-Williams et al. 2005).<br />

The pr<strong>in</strong>ciples of organisational change guided the process of scale up which was based on<br />

six objectives (Nyonator, Awoonor-Williams et al. 2005) which are listed at figure 34.<br />

Community <strong>and</strong> health sector partnership is central to each. The process <strong>in</strong>volved consensus<br />

build<strong>in</strong>g, community ownership, health sector support at all levels, the engagement of<br />

advocates to facilitate change, the communication of success stories which helped to establish<br />

the credibility <strong>and</strong> feasibility of the <strong>in</strong>itiative.<br />

Figure 35 Key components of the CHPS <strong>in</strong>itiative<br />

DHMT &<br />

community<br />

plann<strong>in</strong>g<br />

Community<br />

liaison<br />

Community<br />

compound<br />

CHO post<strong>in</strong>g<br />

Essential<br />

equipment<br />

Volunteer<br />

deployment<br />

P a g e | 156

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