Projects

Uganda Capacity Program

IntraHealth led a five-year, $11 million USAID-funded program to build the capacity of Ugandan institutions to plan for, develop, and strengthen the management of their health care workforce. Building on the success of the IntraHealth-led Capacity Project, IntraHealth worked with the Ministry of Health, other line ministries, and professional councils and also collaborated with Makerere University School of Public Health, Mbarara University, Gulu University, and the Uganda Management Institute.

Launched in 2009, the initiative focused on:

  • Enhancing capacity for human resources for health (HRH) policy and planning
  • Strengthening HRH systems for improved health care quality
  • Improving health workforce management practices.  

The program used the following strategies:

  • Strengthening local institutions, including its local project partners
  • Partnering with key stakeholders including central and district governments, professional councils and associations, and local universities
  • Cultivating synergistic relationships with other donors active in HRH, including other USAID implementing partners
  • Institutionalizing and nationally scaling up the most promising HRH practices
  • Addressing gender discrimination to create the greatest possible pool of health and social welfare workers available to meet Uganda’s critical workforce shortages.

Selected Achievements

Helped 112 districts and 33 central organizations in Uganda develop and implement a human resource information system to track their health workers and identify workforce gaps. 97% of these organizations are now independently managing the system.
Successfully launched an SMS service to empower patients to verify that a clinic or a medical professional is registered and licensed in Uganda, helping people avoid "quack" practitioners.
Helped increase funding allocation in Uganda for human resources for health by $20 million, allowing hiring of new health workers and doubling the salaries for some doctors.
Helped Uganda to increase the number of filled positions in the health sector from 53% in 2009 to 73% in 2017.

Resources