Characterising the performance measurement and management system in the primary health care systems of Malawi

African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Characterising the performance measurement and management system in the primary health care systems of Malawi
 
Creator Makwero, Martha K. Majo, Tony Devarsetty, Praveen Sharma, Manushi Mash, Bob Dullie, Luckson Munar, Wolfgang
 
Subject Family medicine primary health care; performance measurement; performance management; data; goals.
Description Background: Performance Measurement and Management (PMM) systems are levers that support key management functions in health care systems. Just like many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), Malawi strives to improve performance via evidence-based decision making and a suitable performance culture.Aim: This study sought to describe PMM practices at all levels of primary health care (PHC) in Malawi.Setting: This study targeted three levels of PHC, namely the district health centres (DHCs), the zones, and the ministry headquarters.Methods: This was a qualitative exploratory research study where decision-makers at each level of PHC were engaged using key-informant interviews (KII) and focus group discussions (FGDs).Results: We found that there is a weak link among levels of PHC in supporting PMM practices leading to poor dissemination of priorities and goals. There is also failure to appropriately institute good PMM practices, and the use of performance information was found to be limited among decision-makers.Conclusion: Though PMM is acknowledged to be key in supporting health service delivery systems, Malawi’s PHC system has not fully embarked on making this a priority. Some challenges include unsupportive culture and inadequate capacity for PMM.Contribution: This study contributes to the understanding of the PMM processes in Malawi and further highlights the salient challenges in the use of information for performance management. While the presence of policies on PMM is acknowledged, implementation studies that deal with challenges are urgent and imperative.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation
Date 2024-01-31
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — qualitative research
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/phcfm.v16i1.4007
 
Source African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine; Vol 16, No 1 (2024); 11 pages 2071-2936 2071-2928
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/4007/6763 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/4007/6764 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/4007/6765 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/4007/6766
 
Coverage South Africa 2021-2022 age; work experience; health care workers
Rights Copyright (c) 2024 Martha K. Makwero, Tony Majo, Praveen Devarsetty, Manushi Sharma, Bob Mash, Luckson Dullie, Wolfgang Munar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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