OVERVIEW

USAID’s Health Policy Project (HPP) works to build the Afghan Ministry of Public Health’s (MoPH) ability to regulate the health sector, coordinate its activities with the private sector, and improve financial management within the Ministry. The project also works to increase availability and demand for various health services and products.

ACTIVITIES

• Strengthen the leadership of the MoPH: Provide technical support to the MoPH to better steward the private sector by developing regulatory frameworks and building the capacity of the MoPH’s Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Unit to negotiate and manage large hospital PPPs.
• Strengthen MoPH Health Economics & Financing Directorate: Support the MoPH to identify alternative sources of income to reduce the economic burden of providing health services.  The project also works to improve the MoPH’s ability to monitor financial management of the health sector at the central and provincial levels. 
• Private Sector: Train private health sector associations and organizations to improve the quality of health commodities, such as birth-spacing products, and strengthen the policy environment by implementing a reporting system. 
• Social Marketing and Behavior Change Communication: Distribute and build demand for birth-spacing products, point-of-use drinking water solutions, and oral rehydration salts (to treat the effects of diarrhea). HPP also develops and airs messaging via radio and TV to encourage healthier behaviors amongst the Afghan population.
• Gender: Support the MoPH Gender Directorate to implement the National Gender Strategy by providing gender-based violence training to healthcare providers nationwide.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Conducted a regulatory assessment to determine MoPH preparedness to implement the Private Health Centers Regulation.
• Assisted the MoPH in streamlining private sector licensing and establishing a “one stop shop” where information is provided to private sector providers seeking licensing.
• Developed licensing forms and infrastructure standards for private facilities.
• Facilitated the subsidized sale of more than 45 million health products, including birth-spacing products, iron folate, and child survival products through 3,679 outlets across the country.
• Trained more than 200 public sector healthcare providers to diagnose and treat victims of gender-based violence.
• Broadcasted radio messages discouraging early marriage, which puts women and girls at increased risk of sexual, physical, and psychological violence.
• Rolled out a gender sensitivity assessment tool in 21 health facilities across four provinces (Kabul, Kandahar, Nangarhar and Herat). The tool provides a score that facilities can use to assess how well gender is integrated in the delivery of healthcare services. 
• Successfully advocated for the MoPH to introduce 13 new gender indicators into its health management information system, to track progress in providing gender-friendly services.

Fact sheet (Dari)

Fact sheet (Pashto)