Progress:
The CCHIPs team has been working on improving Shingiro since February 2008. Our most visible achievement is in the tremendous infrastructure renovations we have just recently completed. However, we have also made tremendous progress in the other four elements of the WWHIPs model. Below is a brief summary of our progress:
Operational Systems:
1. Infrastructure Changes
The immediate need was for a vast renovation of the physical infrastructure. Since taking over the clinic, changes to physical infrastructure include:
- Repairs to water and electricity systems;
- Repairs to sanitation facilities;
- Removal of asbestos from all buildings;
- Building a “sock-away” pit for laboratory liquid waste;
- Stocking pharmacy with a 3-month supply of pharmaceuticals;
- Extensive renovation of hospital wards, laboratory and pharmacy;
- Construction of new kitchen and shop to provide cooking facilities for staff, patients and their caregivers;
- Constructing a “placenta pit” for the proper disposal of delivery waste materials.
To see the changes we have made for yourself, please visit our Shingiro Image Gallery.
Additional Resources:
2. Management Systems
We have begun a partnership with another NGO in Rwanda to develop management processes and organizational structures for the Shingiro nursing staff. These systems are important for two reasons: 1. An effective management system is essential to the efficient operation of a health centre; 2. Such systems are required to successfully implement medical programs and monitor their effectiveness.
Additional Resources:
Also please see our information on the Access Project to learn more about are partnership to develop a health centre management system.
Medical Systems & Programs
1. Preventative Programs
This past summer, with the help of volunteer Ann Symonds, CCHIPs created a nutritional program to alleviate malnutrition, specificially malnutrition in children under 5. The program focuses on teaching and promoting good nutritional practices through weekly meetings. In addition to these meetings, CCHIPs established a nutritional garden at Shingiro, taught community health workers to communicate these lessons to their villages, and hired and paid for a full-time nurse at Shingiro specializing in nutritional health.
Additional Resources:
Rwanda National Nutritional Policy, June 2005
2. Extend Services into the Community
The CCHIPs staff has begun monthly training sessions with health animators elected by local villages. Each village in Rwanda elects a male and female individual to represent them on health issues. Formerly, these individuals held more of a honrary title. These training sessions work to transform these 82 animators into first responders for their local villages, capable of providing basic treatment and referring more serious cases to Shingiro.
Additional Resources:
3. Developing Simple Medical Protocols and Training in their Use
WWHPS has organized a team of medical professionals to develop a set of simplified diagnostic protocols to lead nurses through the diagnostic process for common conditions. Once finished, these materials will be presented to the Musanze District and the Rwanda Ministry of Health, and with their approval, translated into Kinyarwandan. CCHIPs will then implement such guidelines at Shingiro through training.
SUSTAINABILITY
Throughout these five elements, CCHIPS has focused on making the progress at Shingiro sustainable. In all five elements CCHIPS has sought to find low cost solutions. CCHIPs has also worked hard to increase subsciption rates to Mutuelles, the national insurance program. In the last year, CCHIPs has been able to triple subscription rates in the Shingiro catchment area. Increased Mutuelle subscripition helps increase utilization rates and medical services reimbursement to the health centre, helping Shingiro increase revenue flows. Increased health centre revenues are essential to promote financial sustainability.