Resources

Environmental surveillance of sewage systems, fecal sludge, and impacted surface water has the potential to rapidly and cost-effectively augment clinical surveillance and provide an early warning system to help identify and even predict future COVID-19 outbreaks.

From June 2019 to March 2020, eight health facilities in two districts of Maputo Province participated in a pilot intervention where maternal and child health (MCH) nurses working at postnatal care (PNC) services screened and counseled women for postpartum depression (PPD) and collaborated with mental health providers to follow up on women with symptoms of depression.The assessment, conducted in the second half of 2020, set out to evaluate the following aspects of the pilot:The effectiveness of provider training and supervision.The acceptability and feasibility of screening and counseling for PPD in routine PNC.The barriers and facilitators of integrating postpartum screening and counseling in routine care.The PPD detection rates achieved by the nurses.

Robust policy is critical to achieving improved health outcomes—but far too often, action stops once a policy is developed and adopted. Policies are only as effective as the extent to which they are implemented, and poor policy implementation holds back efforts to expand equitable access to health services. To translate goals into meaningful outcomes, every policy needs a plan of action, resources, dissemination, and adaptation. That is why PATH, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, launched the Capital to Clinic initiative to examine bottlenecks to policy implementation and create tools to help advocates usher policies from development in national capitals to implementation in local clinics. This case study outlines the life cycle of the C2C initiative, from conception through consultations and, ultimately, to the development of a suite of tools for advocates supporting successful policy implementation.

Robust policy is critical to achieving improved health outcomes—but far too often, action stops once a policy is developed and adopted. Policies are only as effective as the extent to which they are implemented, and poor policy implementation holds back efforts to expand equitable access to health services. To translate goals into meaningful outcomes, every policy needs a plan of action, resources, dissemination, and adaptation. That is why PATH, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, launched the Capital to Clinic (C2C) initiative to examine bottlenecks to policy implementation and create tools to help advocates usher policies from development in national capitals to implementation in local clinics.This resource, the culmination of the C2C initiative, looks across the policy cycle—from agenda setting and policy development to implementation and evaluation—and outlines actions that advocates can take to support the roles of decision-makers, hold them accountable, and act as a liaison between civil society, health providers, subnational stakeholders, and communities.Also included is a one-page infographic summary of the tool—a quick reference sheet ready to be posted on cubicle walls, bulletin boards, and/or social media.

Robust policy is critical to achieving improved health outcomes—but far too often, action stops once a policy is developed and adopted. Policies are only as effective as the extent to which they are implemented, and poor policy implementation holds back efforts to expand equitable access to health services. To translate goals into meaningful outcomes, every policy needs a plan of action, resources, dissemination, and adaptation. That is why PATH, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, launched the Capital to Clinic (C2C) initiative to examine bottlenecks to policy implementation and create tools to help advocates usher policies from development in national capitals to implementation in local clinics.This white paper, a key output of the C2C initiative, is informed by key takeaways from consultations with policymakers and advocates as well as the literature on policy implementation science. It seeks to better understand policy implementation by outlining existing frameworks from the literature and examining facilitators and barriers to policy implementation in two case studies—the Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) policy in Ghana and the Community Health Extension Program (HEP) in Ethiopia.