Capacity building lies at the heart of our mission – to build knowledge, skills and abilities in the countries we work in to prevent and manage malaria and other diseases that threaten the lives of poor and vulnerable communities. This involves the process by which human and institutional resources are strengthened in order to provide improved and sustainable healthcare. We work with governments, partners, health workers, communities and the private sector to make sure that local actors have the capacity to provide effective services that contribute to reduction in disease while strengthening local health systems.
All of our training programmes are competency-based and evaluated to ensure that knowledge, skills, and effectiveness have improved. We design, develop and pre-test training materials such as trainer guides, participant workbooks, support supervision manuals, job aids, competency assessments and evaluation tools.
At the health facility level, we train health workers and other staff to manage cases effectively and improve the delivery of services, such as through the supply chain. We accomplish this not only through training, but also by strengthening capacity for follow-up supervision and periodic capacity assessments – ensuring that trained staff follow performance standards, are motivated, supplied with the tools for their job and encouraged to stay in post. The results of our efforts are strengthened health systems, with resilience to establish and maintain quality assurance for diagnosis and treatment.
The private sector is a crucial element in health provision. We therefore engage the private sector in order to ensure the quality of their services, and to strengthen their links with the public sector. Where appropriate, we improve the ability of private providers to diagnose and treat accurately and build their capacity to refer and record cases of malaria and other illnesses.
We help communities to take ownership of their health issues by encouraging healthy attitudes and behaviour. We do this by promoting community involvement and dialogue on health issues through public health communication activities, creating awareness and increasing use of community-based health services. We also train community health workers to assess, classify and treat childhood illnesses such as malaria, pneumonia, diarrhoea and malnutrition through community based primary health delivery programmes such as integrated community case management and seasonal malaria chemoprevention. We build the capacity of communities to demand services and take part in local governance structures.
We also work with countries to assist in the development of relevant health policies and strategies, such as comprehensive malaria control strategic plans. These national policies and strategies help guide all parts of the health system – from public to private and from facility to community levels.