Detailed Mechanism Funding and Narrative

Years of mechanism: 2010 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Details for Mechanism ID: 11951
Country/Region: Ghana
Year: 2010
Main Partner: Not Available
Main Partner Program: NA
Organizational Type: NGO
Funding Agency: HHS/CDC
Total Funding: $0

The GHS is a public service body responsible for implementation of national policies under the control of the MOH through the GHS Council. The GHS has the mandate to provide and manage comprehensive and accessible health services with special emphasis on primary health care at regional, district and sub-district levels in accordance with approved national policies. As part of its mandate, GHS is charged with: developing appropriate strategies and setting technical guidelines to achieve national policy goals/objectives; undertaking management and administration of the overall health resources; establishing effective mechanisms for disease surveillance, prevention and control; and managing health information relating to patients, facilities and services, both on paper and by means of information and communications technology. The GHS also has mandate to increase access to good quality health services and provide in-service training and continuing education for health professionals. USG Ghana's PF will provide assistance to the GHS to build capacity nationally for the sustainability of quality laboratory and medical services related to HIV, tuberculosis and malaria in the areas of policy development, training, specimen referral systems, implementation of quality systems with a long term goal towards laboratory accreditation, standardization of information systems, and data collection in line with country requirements. USG will provide technical assistance for process improvement in the areas of laboratory and strategic information, including accreditation of selected hospital laboratories. USG will also provide critical support to the NBTS, a unit under the Institutional Care Division of the GHS, through this mechanism.

Funding for Biomedical Prevention: Blood Safety (HMBL): $0

CDC will work with a TBD partner to implement a multi-focal plan to strengthen blood services in Ghana.

Current efforts to increase donor mobilization and retention, particularly of volunteer, non-remunerated donors from low risk populations, are constrained by lack of reliable, adequate and appropriate transport for donor education, mobilization and outreach services. The primary strategy will be to determine the most cost-effective, reliable, safe and durable methods of improving transport to increase the reliability and accessibility of blood services. Options will include purchasing vehicles, leasing dedicated transport, sharing vehicles with other GHS entities, etc.

Volunteer donors only account for 28% of the approximately 140,000 units of blood collected Ghana in 2008. PEPFAR support will be used to develop a comprehensive, direct public social marketing campaign to increase the volume of volunteer, uncompensated blood donors. This cost-effective proposal would utilize posters, flyers, billboards and public service messages to reach potential volunteer donors.

Most of the blood services staff have not had any recent or ongoing, in-service training. Newly hired staff are not presently given an orientation and do not receive adequate pre-service training to perform their jobs. The goal for 2010 PEPFAR funds will be to increase the quality, frequency, sustainability and capacity to conduct targeted training for blood procurement, laboratory technicians and clinicians involved in blood services. Training will include quality, safety, the appropriate clinical use of blood and blood products, laboratory testing, component processing, storage, distribution and supply, and waste disposal.

Currently there is inadequate cold storage capacity to ensure the safety, reliability and accessibility of blood products at ten regional and 170 district hospitals. PEPFAR will support the purchase of blood storage refrigerators to improve storage capacity at a network of geographically dispersed priority hospitals. The appropriate type, size, and specifications of the units will be determined to ensure cost-efficiency, durability and reliability for optimum performance.

There is a present need to strengthen the collection, processing and transmission, analysis, dissemination and evaluation of blood service data and information across the network of regional and hospital based blood centers. Assistance will be provided to the Ghanaian government to ensure that the national blood service headquarters and blood transfusion facilities are connected by wide area networks to the greatest extent possible, using existing infrastructure and infrastructure being installed under PFactivities to connect laboratories, regional offices and warehouses. Dedicated infrastructure will be procured and installed as part of this activity.

Funding for Laboratory Infrastructure (HLAB): $0

USG PEPFAR/CDC will support, through a TBD partner, for the development of a national laboratory strategic plan (NLSP) that will serve as the basis for all national laboratory activities and coordination of national programs, stakeholders and donor agencies in improving the national laboratory network. The funding will support the following activities: planning and implementation of stakeholder meetings to review existing national laboratory policy and laboratory assessment documents to develop the national laboratory strategic plan; development, with key players, of the implementation strategy; and advocacy for the adoption and submission of policy documents to the ministerial cabinet for approval. The TBD partner will finalize, print and disseminate the NLSP and national laboratory policy documents and coordinate their implementation in collaboration with the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL).

The TBD partner, through funds from the USG Ghana's PF, will support the cost of training, in a training-of-trainers (TOT) format, for two candidates from representative clinical facilities for an 18 month, task-based laboratory management WHO AFRO laboratory accreditation course at the African Center for Integrated Laboratory Training (ACILT) in Johannesburg in South Africa (ACILT). Funds will also support the training of two candidates on bio-safety and two on TB molecular testing at ACILT. Additionally, the TBD partner will organize workshop trainings on quality management systems (QMS) for 75 testing facility personnel laboratory professionals through 2011 including proficiency testing and use of a standardized logbook for HIV rapid testing. Moreover, the TBD partner will provide training for 25 laboratory professionals on CD4, on EID (specimens collection, handling and testing) and TB molecular testing. These trained laboratory professionals will continue to transfer skills, knowledge and capacity, ensuring a sustained impact. The TBD partner will develop and validate new testing algorithms of HIV rapid testing.

The TBD partner will work to strengthen laboratory capacity for monitoring trends in HIV and Tuberculosis (TB) resistance. Funds will support training costs for a laboratory scientist on advanced testing HIV drug resistance and enrollment in EQA programs for HIV drug resistance. Funds will also support the salaries of a quality manager for TB and ten regional supervisors responsible for EQA for TB AFB smear microscopy.

The TBD partner will purchase HIV rapid test kits and required consumables to conduct national HIV testing algorithm validations. Funds will be used to provide technical support to HIV surveillance activities (including incidence studies).

The TBD partner will strengthen the national sample referral system and results reporting. Resources will go to ensure specimens are appropriately transported to maintain their integrity, ensuring testing and return within specified turnaround times for appropriate interventions.