The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), together with CHS and health facility staff, carried out supportive supervision in Machakos, Makueni, Kitui and Nyeri Counties, from 6th to 10th February 2017. CHS implements its NAISHI project in the Eastern region including Machakos, Makueni and Kitui and the TEGEMEZA Project in Central Kenya which includes Nyeri. This supportive supervision was being carried out in the County Health Management Teams (CHMTs) and in CHS-supported health facilities in the four counties. Both NAISHI and TEGEMEZA are funded by the The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through CDC, towards HIV prevention, care and treatment activities in the respective counties. These CHMT and site assessments are in line with PEPFAR’s requirements for recipients who benefit from their funding.
Ruth Kuria of CDC (left) leads the SIMS exercise at Nyeri PGH assisted by CHS Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor, Rachel Muinde (right)
Participants keenly follow proceedings during the SIMS at Machakos
The goal of the SIMS is to standardise clinical site quality monitoring, through the assessment and scoring of site performance on key program elements. This is achieved through monitoring site capacity to provide high quality HIV/AIDS services in all program areas, identifying key gaps in service delivery and offering recommendations for improvement. The support supervision is carried out using a tool known as the Site Improvement Monitoring System (SIMS), which measures different aspects of the HIV service delivery process.
SIMS exercise at the Karatina Sub-District Hospital laboratory
At the end of each visit, the visited health facilities have an opportunity to receive feedback from the CDC staff, whose purpose is improving the quality of their service delivery at the CHMT and facility levels. SIMS assessments are conducted on a regular and ongoing basis by CDC Kenya in all the CHS-supported health facilities in the country.
Agnes Lang’at giving her feedback of the SIMS assessment at Nguluni Health Centre in Matungulu sub-county, Machakos County
The results of the evaluation demonstrated exceptional performance by the CHS-supported sites, with the sample sites meeting and exceeding expectations in most areas assessed. A majority of the sites scored over 90%, which is highly commendable.
The CHS and CDC teams in Nyeri during the SIMS