The Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) is currently conducting the Health Facility Readiness and Service Availability Assessment ( HFRSA) on health facilities mainly hospitals and Area Health Centers (AHC) across the country.
With financial and technical support from the United Nations Population Fund, the government of Australia and the Solomon Islands Government, 11 teams comprising of health workers, public health graduates as field enumerators, and six national supervisors have been deployed to the provinces in the past month to carry out the assessment.
MHMS Permanent Secretary Mrs. Pauline McNeil explained that the assessment is part of the Ministry‘s efforts to achieve key result areas in its National Health Strategic Plan 2016-2020.
“The assessment is important as it will provide crucial information on availability and quality of essential maternal health services, including delivery and family planning services, youth-friendly services, HIV or prevention from mother to child transmission services”,
“Additionally with the assessment the ministry had made use of this opportunity to gather information on maternal death systems, requirements for the Ministry’s role delineation policy that includes; water, sanitation, and hygiene, all of which are crucial towards the delivery of quality health services to the people. This assessment is very timely for the Ministry of Health and Medical Services, as the assessment will generate additional evidence to support the planning and managing of our health system, but more so in view of the fact that this will further inform and guide the development of the national health 2021 to 2025”, said Mrs. McNeil.
That said, the MHMS Permanent Secretary thanked the donors and development partners for the support in this regard.
“Sincere thank you to the United National Population Fund, UNFPA and the government of Australia for both technical and financial support rendered as it will effectively advance the Ministry’s efforts to achieve improved service quality, coverage and lay the foundation for the future which are all part of the current National Health Strategic Plan 2016-2020 key result areas”.
The assessment commenced last month led by the MHMS Research Department and is near completion. Out of 365 health facilities across the country, 215 have been selected for assessment and to date, 194 facilities completed.
By province, assessments have been completed for Guadalcanal, Makira Choiseul, Honiara City Council, Isabel, and Central Islands Provinces. Assessments for National Referral Hospital, Malaita, Western and Rennell, and Bellona Provinces are ongoing and soon to be completed.
– MHMS
