The Health Thematic Area - Our Journey Our Story

Guided by the 5 Principles of deliverology namely Prioritization, Planning for delivery, Problem solving, Pressure for results and Progress reporting, PMDU Health thematic area working closely with thematic areas has for the past 5 years, piloted the delivery methodology in 20 pilot districts in Eastern Uganda namely Mbale, Kween, Kayunga, Sironko, Soroti, Namutumba, Bukwo, Bulambuli, Serere, Pallisa, Luuka, Kapchorwa, Buyende, Bududa, Buvuma, Kaliro,Bugiri, Manafa, Mayuge. 

PMDU’s choice was informed by poor PLE Performance; the need to consolidate efforts and resources, as opposed to scattering by the three (3) PMDU service delivery thematic areas namely education, infrastructure and Health was prioritized. PMDU’s focus in health has been improving health workforce productivity through daily tracking of staff attendance to duty and supporting the districts institutionalize attendance data use in order to inform management decisions. Other considerations for elimination of absenteeism through attendance tracking were Impacts of absenteeism on HEALTH services namely

    Absenteeism Prevents communities from accessing timely care
    Increased costs due to multiple attempts to access care
    Worsening Patient conditions lead to additional costs
    Worsening health conditions kill trust in the health system
    Increased volume of work for those present
    Low morale, workers present adopt negative practices
    Some are forced to perform tasks for which they are unqualified

Over the years, and working closely with other thematic areas, Health has successfully undertaken the following delivery actions and realised a number of successes: 
 

A: Delivery actions

I.    Engagements with Political and Technical Sector-specific leaders at Central level and in the 22 local governments with a focus on Priority setting and gaining consensus on Sector specific outcomes, specifically improving health workforce productivity through increased worker attendance to duty which is foundational to improving quality of health.

OPM/PMDU leadership with leaders of the 20 districts following a successful engagement in 2019

II.    Establishment and operationalization of an Inter-ministerial task force for Health, comprised of technical representatives from the sectors of Health, Education, Local Government and Public service and, other stakeholders. This has pprovided a mechanism for coordinating implementation efforts across government and enabled better inter-ministerial coordination while ensuring clear delineation of responsibilities and accountability throughout implementation stages. Through the monthly inter-ministerial taskforce meetings, technical issues related to implementation are discussed and escalated appropriately within the respective sector hierarchies and progress with attendance is closely monitored.