New programme review process for diarrhoeal disease control
World Health Forum 15(1): 96-98
1994
ISSN/ISBN: 0251-2432 PMID: 8141993 Document Number: 419423
In 1991 the Control of Diarrhoeal Disease (CDD) Programme developed a new evaluation methodology. This Focused Program Review assists national CDD programs to identify achievements in a problem-specific, data-based, action-oriented, and structured evaluation. Phase I of the Focused Program Review lasts 1 week, when national program staff review documents to identify constraints to program operations, and 4 or 5 constraints with the highest rating are selected for further examination in Phase II. Phase II is a 2-week examination of the priority issues. Working groups collect data during field visits and interviews with key persons. Solutions are then proposed: effective activities along with their budgets, time schedules, and task responsibilities. Focused Program Reviews have been conducted in Bangladesh, Kenya, Cameroon, Sri Lanka, Viet Nam, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Morocco, Egypt, Niger, Congo, and Zimbabwe. Four issues predominated in Phase I identification and accounted for nearly 75% of issues taken to Phase II. In Pakistan it was recommended to add central staff to strengthen and monitor supervision, to develop a supervisory checklist, and to conduct monitoring visits of every graduate of case management training within 3 months of completing training. Similarly, in Kenya the review team suggested that the national program appoint a staff member with responsibility for supervision; that the supervisory checklist and CDD report forms be distributed to 42 districts; and that budgets of supervisory skills courses should include funding for follow-up visits to graduates within 3 months of the completion of training. In Egypt it proposed the creation of a coordinating group for communication activities in addition to television messages and talk shows on knowledge, attitudes, and practices relating to oral rehydration. In Cameroon the integration of information, education, and communication activities into training and supervision was proposed to counter the sparse distribution of educational materials to mothers and low levels of oral rehydration solution use.