The Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) in partnership with United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA has commenced two days validation workshop for initial report of a recent assessment conducted for Health Facilities Readiness and Services Availability (HFRSA) with a focus on Sexual and Reproductive Health.
The assessment conducted in 2020 was aimed at providing insights into availability and quality of essential maternal health services as well as availability of contraceptive and essential medicines.
With the initial report submitted in 2021, the Ministry is embarking on a two days’ workshop to validate the assessment report, findings and recommendation amongst other aspects.
Group photo of Health Permanent Secretary Mrs. Pauline McNeil with participants of the validation workshop
Permanent Secretary Mrs. Pauline McNeil in opening the validation workshop thanked all the Health Provincial Directors including all individuals involved in the assessment whilst highlighting the importance of the validation workshop. The assessment was done at a challenging time when the Ministry had dual responsibilities to discharge and manage, one on its core mandates of core business of the Ministry and secondly on delivering and managing the Covid-19 preparedness, response and now on the vaccination rollout out.
“Data collected in the field are critical towards informing policy and decision making, actions and interventions however these are also prone to errors and mistakes and therefore the validation workshop is important to ensure soundness, accuracy and legitimacy of the assessment report”,
“Having such valid report will greatly enable the Ministry to finalize and adopt a report that is more precise and reflective of the current situation, in this case maternal health services and availability of contraceptive and essential medicines, for relevant and appropriate actions and interventions by health, partners and stakeholders. This will also enable us to facilitate integration of the assessment results in the preparation for the Ministry’s annual operation plan and budget for 2022, development of the new health sector strategic plan”, explained Mrs. McNeil.
Mrs. McNeil thanked the UNFPA for the technical and funding support rendered towards the assessment activity including the validation workshop and the Australian Government for its ongoing commitment with UNFPA to accelerate progress towards Universal Access to Quality Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in the Pacific, which made possible the assessment activity.
She concluded her remarks by urging participants to engage in constructive discussions and debate to validate the intital report of the HFRSA assessment.
Ministry of Health officials, Provincial Health Directors (PHDs) and assessment team leads including enumerators attended the validation workshop.
Today (20th Oct) preliminary findings from the HFRSA spot check monitoring and data quality assurance, which is currently being conducted in 86 health facilities in all provinces including NRH was presented. This is to ascertain accuracy of data being generated from the Health Management Information System and the logistical management information system based on quality of reported data from health facilities, collation at sub-national levels and aggregation at national levels.
-MHMS Press