Project Publications

All publications are less than 1MB, unless otherwise indicated

Basic Messages about Avian Influenza
2006

A folder with 5 set of messages to prevent animal-to-animal transmission, animal-to-human transmission, and human-to-human transmission. The messages are intended to be used by communities, journalists, local leaders, and teachers.

Download PDF: English, French Portuguese,

Capacity Strengthening of African Institutions and Networks: A Strategy
October 2006

In order to improve the health status of Africans, the USAID Africa’s Health in 2010 contract was awarded to AED and its partners to provide strategic, analytical, communications and advocacy, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) support to USAID Missions, USAID Regional Programs, the Africa Bureau, as well as African institutions (regional and national African institutions that work in the area of public health, both in the public and private sector) and networks. The purpose of this document is to provide Africa 2010’s strategy for strengthening regional and local capacity for adopting effective policies and innovations to improve the health status of Africans.

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Community Action and the Test of Time: Learning From Community Experiences and Perceptions
July 2006

Mobilizing community action is an increasingly common component of numerous programs designed to address the safety, wellbeing, and development of especially vulnerable children. In 2006, DCOF and Africa’s Health in 2010, a project managed by the Academy for Educational Development (AED), commissioned a series of case studies to examine the Malawi and Zambia community mobilization experiences. The case study review aimed to identify lessons learned from community experiences and perceptions, and to share these with a wide audience of policymakers and program designers.

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Community Action and the Test of Time: A Summary of the Retrospective Study of Community Mobilization and Community Feedback
February 2008

Mobilizing community action is an increasingly common component of many programs designed to address the safety, well-being, and development of orphans and vulnerable children. This document combines the reports of a two-phase study undertaken to record lessons learned from two community mobilization activities in Zambia and Malawi. The study examined what communities might be doing as a result of actions the programs had helped communities to set in motion. The fundamental question was whether community action for vulnerable children continued beyond the program.

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Community Feedback on the Report of a Retrospective Study on Community Mobilization for Orphan Care and Support in Malawi and Zambia
April 2007

This publication reports feedback obtained from communities in Malawi and Zambia about a study carried out in 2006 to assess the effectiveness of community mobilization in providing care and support to orphans and vulnerable children.

Download PDF: English

Report of the Final Evaluation of the East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community Strategic Plan 2004-2007
May 2008

Between June and July 2007, an evaluation of ECSA-HC’s strategic plan was conducted. The purpose of the evaluation was to review the implementation of the plan with a view to identifying successes, achievements, challengers, constraints and lessons learnt in the course of the Strategic Plan implementation. A further objective was to identify the health priorities, issues and challenges within the ECSA region, and learn lessons that could contribute to the development of a new ECSA-HC strategic plan of 2008-2013.

Download PDF: English

Forum on Engaging the Private Sector in Child Health
April 2007

There has been a growing recognition that private providers, and the private sector more broadly, constitute a huge resource for improving community health outcomes. In Africa, it has been estimated that nearly 80% of treatments for uncomplicated illness, such as fever, are provided through the private sector. However, these services are frequently unregulated and too often involve inappropriate or substandard care. The potential of the private sector for providing quality services and commodities is great, though it remains largely untapped. Over recent years, a growing body of experience demonstrates the important role of the private provider in community health. With the aim of learning from these experiences, a forum was conducted to review the different approaches and strategies that have been used and to identify strategies to move the agenda forward at international, regional and country levels. Groups of public and private sector representatives from eight African countries with experiences to share (Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda) were joined by representatives of several technical and development agencies for the forum.

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Gender-based Violence in sub-Saharan Africa: A review of Demographic and Health Survey findings and their use in National Planning
March 2008

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a pervasive human rights issue with public health consequences. It often goes unrecognized and unreported, is accepted as part of the “nature of things” and is shrouded in a culture of silence. Although reliable data on the prevalence of the various forms of GBV remains scarce, the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) program has been contributing to the growing body of evidence on one important aspect of GBV by providing national level population-based data on the prevalence, risk factors and consequences of domestic violence experienced by women. The main purposes of this desk review are to: (1) Assess the levels of domestic violence in sub-Saharan Africa by critically reviewing the findings from available, comparable national DHS reports; and (2) Examine whether the evidence generated by these DHS findings has been used to inform policies and programs as reflected in the country growth and development strategies, such as the first and second generation Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs).

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ECSA Sub-Regional Implementation Framework for Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Control
2009

The implementation of interventions proposed in this publication will enhance efforts to focus attention on the health dimension and public health burden occasioned by GBV that may have received limited attention even as stakeholders sought to address the human rights aspects of GBV and child sexual abuse. This publication was produced by ECSA-HC, with support of USAID/Bureau of Africa, through Africa's Health in 2010

Download PDF: English

Impact of Global Economic Crisis on Health in Africa
July 2009

This paper examines the current and potential impact of the global economic crisis on health sector financing and programming and outcomes in Africa. The paper also recommends actions that governments and development partners can consider to mitigate the potentially catastrophic effects of the global economic crisis on the health of Africa’s people.

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Improving Women's Lives
July 2010

This brochure highlights AED programs that promote the continuum of care for maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) globally through multiple projects. The projects focus on postpartum hemorrhage prevention; maternal anemia reduction; malaria prevention; family planning; and intimate partner violence, among others.

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Learning from large-scale community-based programmes to improve breastfeeding practices
March 2008

USAID Bureau for Africa, through Africa’s Health in 2010, supported AED, WHO and UNICEF in the development of this paper, to share experiences and lessons from community-based approaches to improve breastfeeding practices, so that others can use the information to strengthen existing programmes and design new ones.

The paper is of particular value to individuals who are interested in studying the results and lessons emerging from different models and assessing their applicability in a new setting. The paper is not a “how to” guide, rather, it is the story of vision, innovations, partnerships, trials and errors, and results. The information was collected through case studies in the following 10 countries: Benin, Bolivia, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Honduras, India, Madagascar, Mali, and Nepal.

For those seeking guidance on programme design and implementation, an annex lists manuals, training materials, and other resources.

Download PDF: English

A toolkit for developing integrated campaigns to encourage the distribution and use of long lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs)
September 2008

This toolkit, published by the Alliance for Malaria Prevention (AMP), represents the accumulated wisdom of those who have been most closely involved in rapid ITN scale-up. By collecting their experience and making it available to others, it provides the best guide available to campaign implementation. It provides generic lessons that can be applied to achieving the targets of universal coverage although it has been developed based on experience with vaccination/nutrition campaigns targeting children under five as primary platforms. The authors have spent enormous effort to assure that the best practices are presented in a clear and concise manner. It is hoped that the Toolkit is able to both answer common questions and provide a general approach to answer questions specific to each campaign.

Download PDF (3MB): English, French

National Health Accounts Reproductive Health Subaccounts Participant's Manual
March 2008

The goal of the National Health Accounts Reproductive Health Subaccounts Participant's Manual is to familiarize trainers and trainees on the methodology of the RH subaccount as well as to reinforce the importance and usefulness of tracking resources associated with RH. The manual is a complete toolkit with lectures, PowerPoint presentations, interactive exercises and supplemental readings that has been designed, and produced using the Reproductive Health Subaccounts Guidelines.
These Guidelines were written by an international working group including support from WHO's departments of Health System Financing (WHO/HSF) and Making Pregnancy Safer (WHO/MPS), and Reproductive Health and Research (WHO/RHR); the United States Agency for International Development/Partners for Health Reformplus (PHRplus) Project and its successor the Health Systems 20/20 (HS 20/20) project; the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH). The methodology aims to be internationally applicable in accordance with the NHA approach and incorporates lessons learned from Rwanda, Malawi, Ethiopia and Morocco.

Download PDF (12MB): English

Download in parts:
Introduction
Unit 1: Introduction to Reproductive Health Subaccounts (2.2MB)
Unit 2: Definitions and Boundaries for the Reproductive Health Subaccounts (1MB)
Unit 3: Concept of Classifications for Reproductive Health Subaccounts (1.9MB)
Unit 4: Setting-up and Reading the Matrices (1.9MB)
Unit 5: Data Collection Approach (1.6MB)
Unit 6: Data Analysis Approach (2.5MB)
Unit 7: Implementation Process for Reproductive Health Subaccounts (1MB)

Nutrition and Tuberculosis: A review of the literature and considerations for TB control programs
April 2008

In Africa, tuberculosis (TB) is the most common cause of death from a curable infectious disease. The nutritional consequences of active TB are well recognized by clinicians, yet little is known about effective nutritional management, nor of the interactions between TB treatment and nutritional status. We are pleased to share our recent paper which reviews scientific literature on the role of nutrition in TB disease, summarizes key findings and knowledge gaps, and investigates related programmatic experience. Central themes include (1) TB, and TB/HIV co-infection, (2) Malnutrition, immunity and TB, (3) Micronutrients and TB, (4) Incorporating nutrition into TB programs.

Download PDF: English, French (July 2010)

Nutrition and HIV/AIDS: A Training Manual for Nurses and Midwives
April 2008

Africa's Health in 2010 provided technical support to the Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance (FANTA) project on the development of this publication.

Nutrition interventions are an important component of comprehensive care and support for people living with HIV (PLHIV). As front-line care providers, nurses play a critical role in HIV care. In many settings it is nurses who have the strongest opportunity to provide routine counseling and other support to PLHIV. Equipping nurses with nutrition and HIV knowledge and skills enables them to provide effective nutrition care and support. Nursing school curricula in the region often include little or no information on the subject. Nutrition and HIV/AIDS: A Training Manual for Nurses and Midwives is designed to address this gap by providing materials that nursing school instructors can use to teach nursing students the knowledge and skills needed for nutrition care and support of PLHIV. While designed to be used for pre-service training, it can also be used or adapted for in-service training.

Nutrition and HIV/AIDS: A Training Manual for Nurses and Midwives is a publication of the East, Central and Southern African Health Community Secretariat (ECSA-HC), the Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance (FANTA) Project of the Academy for Educational Development (AED), and the LINKAGES Project of AED. Technical input was also provided by the Africa's Health in 2010 Project of AED. Funding for the manual was provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development Regional Mission for East Africa (USAID/East Africa).

View Publication (opens FANTA's website)

Nutrition Care for People Living with HIV and AIDS: Training Manual for Community and Home-Based Care Providers' Facilitators Guide and Participant Handouts
April 2008

Africa's Health in 2010 provided technical support to the Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance (FANTA) project on the development of this publication.

Community and home-based care providers are front-line workers in care and support of PLHIV. Their close contact with PLHIV and affected household members and their familiarity with the household environment offer a valuable opportunity for targeted nutrition care and support. Nutrition Care for People Living with HIV and AIDS: Training Manual for Community and Home-Based Care Providers Facilitators Guide and Participant Handouts are designed to equip community and home-based care providers with sufficient knowledge and skills to provide nutrition care to PLHIV as part of ongoing services. The materials are designed for training providers who do not have extensive education or technical knowledge. Topics include the relationship between nutrition and HIV, assessment of nutritional status, methods for improving food intake, management of HIV and AIDS complications, managing food and drug interactions, care for HIV-positive women and children, food and water safety and hygiene, and principles of counseling and networking. The facilitators guide and participant handouts were developed by RCQHC and the FANTA Project with funding from USAID/East Africa.

View Publication (opens FANTA's website)

Opportunities for Africa's Newborns
2006

This publication helps to bridge the gap between policy and action by bringing together technical experts and leaders in material, newborn and child health in Africa. The book includes a basic situation analysis of maternal, newborn and child health for 46 countries in Africa, the continuum of care, details on how key MNCH programs can be strengthened, and lessons learned from six country that are making progress.

Download PDF: English, French,
Complete book (opens the Partnership website)

Repositioning Family Planning Toolkit
August 2008 (The section on Family Planning in Sub-Saharan Africa was updated in 2010)

This toolkit aims to help those working in family planning across Africa to effectively advocate for renewed emphasis on family planning to enhance the visibility, availability, and quality of family planning services for increased contraceptive use and healthy timing and spacing of births, ultimately, improved quality of life across the region. It was developed in response to requests from several countries to assist them in accelerating their family planning advocacy efforts. The complete toolkit comes with an interactive CD, please contact us for ordering information, or download a PDF here.

Download PDF: English, French

Saving Women's Lives
July 2010

Africa 2010 provided support to our African Partner, the East, Central
and Southern Africa Health Secretariat (ECSA-HC) who presented "Saving
Women's Lives: Enabling Policy Environment for High-Impact Maternal
Health Interventions" (see poster) at the 2010 Global Health Conference
held in June, 2010, in Washington DC.

Download PDF: English

Using Human Resource for Health Data: Health policy and program planning examples from four African countries
June 2008

Imbalances in quantity and quality of human resources for health (HRH) are increasingly recognized as perhaps the most critical impediment to achieving health outcome objectives in most African countries. However, reliable data on the HRH situation is often not readily available. Our new paper addresses the issue of data use for HRH policy-making. It provides valuable information to the body of literature available to policy-makers and their development partners as they grapple with the development and implementation of workable HRH policies. The paper finds that few countries have functioning HRH management information systems that can routinely provide data without the need for special studies and provides suggestions for using human resource data in the development of comprehensive plans and policies.

Download PDF: English

USAID Grant to WHO/AFRO (2005-2009) Final Evaluation
May 2009

During the last five years, 2004-2009, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO/AFRO) a grant of $37 million dollars to strengthen WHO/AFRO capacity to support African Nations in achieving the Health Millennium Development Goals (MDGs 4, 5, and 6).This joint USAID and WHO/AFRO evaluation of the 2005-2009 USAID $37 Million Grant to WHO/AFRO is made up of four different sections: (1) Executive Summary and Recommendations, (2) Context of the Evaluation: Actors, Schedule of Work, (3) Description of the ten (10) program areas funded by the grant, (4) Reports of country visits to Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Liberia

Download PDF: Full Report (1.7MB), Summary Report

The USAID/West Africa Regional Health Program: A Mid-Term Assessment
July 2006

USAID/WA commissioned a team to conduct a mid-term assessment of its Health Strategic Objective (SO5)--Increased Adoption of Sustainable RH, STI/HIV/AIDS, and Child Survival Policies and Approaches in West Africa. The purposes were to review health program achievements to date; to assess the impact of the current programs; and to develop strategic, technical, and managerial recommendations to assist in future planning and performance improvement. The team conducted field work in the region from April 30-May 18, 2006 by conducting interviews, reviewing of relevant documents, and visiting field sites. This report provides a rich assessment of the objective.

Download PDF: English

Zandi's Song
2006

Zandi's Song is a colorfully illustrated story about a 15-year-old girl who raises chickens to help pay school fees. The 28-page booklet discusses transmission and prevention of avian flu as Zandi becomes empowered to help her village learn more about the disease. It is accompanied by a 12- page teacher's guide that contains a step-by-step approach to helping children take action in their community. The set also includes a fact sheet, posters and bookmarks on ways to protect against avian flu.

Download PDF (3MB): English, French, Portuguese

Introduction to Advocacy Training Guide

This publication was produced by the SARA 1 project (1992-1999)
This guide provides the tools for people to start engaging in the advocacy process, and is designed to inform a diverse audience of potential advocates about advocacy and its methods; build some basic skills in advocacy; increase the use of available data to inform the advocacy process; give confidence to those who are embarking on advocacy efforts; encourage the democratic process by providing people with the skills to make their voices heard.

Download PDF (2MB): English, French

This Website is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of Africa's Health in 2010 Project, managed by the Academy for Educational Development, and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.