Abt is overseeing the renovation of the physical infrastructure of critical public hospitals in Jordan, particularly improving the quality of maternal and neonatal wards through facility upgrades and clinical skills development.
USAID/Jordan recently awarded Abt Associates the new five-year Health Systems Strengthening II (HSS II) project. This project will be implemented by Abt Associates in close coordination with Jordan's Ministry of Health (MOH). The MOH's strategic plan, facilitated by HSS II, recognizes that efforts to improve primary health care (PHC) and other health challenges will not be successful or sustainable unless the MOH also improves its management systems, implements performance appraisals and directs resources to automate processes and procedures, and delegates authority for a more decentralized system.
HSS II is designed to support the MOH in addressing the country's major health challenges, namely: reducing fertility rates; improving women's health, family planning (FP) and reproductive health (RH) services; and facilitating access to health services and information. It will do this by strengthening those elements that most directly affect performance in these areas. Phase I of the program will focus on improving the quality of services at selected hospitals through renovations, delivery and installation of state-of-the-art medical equipment and furniture, and training hospital health care providers in emergency services as well as maternal and neonatal health. Phase II will concentrate on promoting the principles and practice of knowledge management at the MOH, improving the quality of PHC, Safe Motherhood Services at the hospital level, community health and FP/RH services. Phase II will also further renovate, equip, and maintain health facilities and develop greater human resource capabilities.
Over the last 12 years, Abt has provided extensive support to the development of Jordan's healthcare system, working at all levels to improve the quality and accessibility of health services, while strengthening the underlying systems that ensure sustained change.
HSS II builds on more than 12 years of experience working in Jordan, during which time Abt Associates has led several large integrated programs for USAID, including: the Health Systems Strengthening I project, which ran from 2004-2009, and its predecessor, the Primary Health Care Initiatives (PHCI) project, which ran from 1999-2004, as well as the Private Sector Project for Women's Health (PSP-Jordan), which runs from 2005-2012. Through these projects, Abt Associates has provided extensive support to the development of Jordan's healthcare system, working at all levels to improve the quality and accessibility of health services, while strengthening the underlying systems that ensure sustained change. Through these projects, the company has supported a variety of family planning interventions, and institutionalized a number of programs improving maternal/neonatal health services at the community, primary health care, and hospital levels.
