Health Services Quality Accelerator Activity in Jordan

The Challenge

USAID and the Government of Jordan have long collaborated to advance and strengthen the country’s health system and quality and accessibility of health services. Jordan has successfully improved population health in priority areas, including reducing maternal and infant mortality. However, there continues to be a large unmet need for family planning awareness, availability, and uptake, and progress is still needed to reduce infant and child mortality rates.

Overview and Objectives

Led by URC, the USAID Health Services Quality Accelerator supports the Jordanian Ministry of Health (MOH) to accelerate and sustain improvements in reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH) outcomes through the public and private health sectors.

The Activity aims to improve the quality of equitable RMNCH services through:

• Strengthening delivery of integrated health care services;
• Strengthening MOH capacity to lead for quality care; and
• Improving patient-centered RMNCH core competencies.

The project strengthens MOH leadership and governance capacity to lead for improving quality of care through:

• Enhancing MOH capacity in data management and utilization;
• Improving accountability of health care provider’ performance; and
• Enhancing the health care policy environment.

To support the Activity’s objectives, URC facilitates engagement between public and private stakeholders and strengthens their capacity in people-centered quality improvement.

Achievements

The USAID Health Services Quality Accelerator has achieved much since its kick-off in 2021, including these recent achievements:

• Established Quality Assurance and Patient Safety (QAPS) teams at 140+ health facilities to drive incremental improvements in the quality of RMNCH services. The Activity is hard at work training these QAPS teams, with more than half already trained.
• Adapted the WHO Safe Childbirth Checklist to Jordan’s context, with piloting initiated at two hospitals. Many more clinical tools are being updated in collaboration with the MOH.
• Scaled up implementation, monitoring, and training on the National Guidelines to Support Vaginal Births and Reduce Unnecessary Primary Cesarean Section Deliveries, Training labor and delivery.
• Supported the institutionalization of the Jordan Maternal Mortality Surveillance and Response (JMMSR) System.