Impact partner profile

Integrate Health 

Community Health Workers integrated with improved health centres is a lifesaving combination

Est. since

2004

Location of HQ

Kara, Togo

Partnership date with Thankyou

2020 – Current

Area of focus

Health

Regions

Togo, Guinea

Website

integratehealth.org

In rural Togo, maternal mortality remains six times higher than the global average. Women who seek to deliver in health facilities are delayed by long distances and a lack of transport. Health facilities are often undersupplied and stretched beyond capacity. Life-saving treatment like newborn resuscitation kits are non-existent, meaning complications during birth can escalate to life-threatening complications. Integrate Health exists to prove that a better standard of healthcare is possible. Beginning in the West African nation, Togo, their vision is to make quality primary healthcare accessible to all.

Integrate Health has developed a model called the Integrated Primary Care Program (IPCP), in collaboration with community leaders and government public health experts, that provides high-quality primary care to remote and rural communities in Togo and Guinea. 

These components are interlinked, and include:

  • Training and equipping salaried Community Health Workers who can identify healthcare needs around childhood illnesses, maternal health, and family planning.
  • Recruiting Clinical Mentors to train and coach nurses and midwives in the latest best practices of diagnosis and care.
  • Training Pharmacy Managers in supply chain management, to ensure that public health clinics have the products, equipment, and infrastructure needed for a high-functioning health facility.
  • Subsidising public health clinics to cover point-of-care fees for pregnant women and children under five, to ensure that they receive care for free.

In a region where public health is chronically under-resourced, the Integrated Primary Care Program (IPCP) has demonstrated that transformative change for rural health is possible. Rigorous studies have shown that children receiving care through their model had a 29% lower risk of death.

Today, Integrate Health deliver their IPCP services to nearly 400,000 people across Togo and Guinea. While they plan to expand this direct service delivery to support over 500,000 people across three countries by 2028, they also hope to scale through the Togolese Ministry of Health as the primary implementers, to reach over six million Togolese with improved healthcare.

Core impact goals

Improved timeliness

Integrate Health aims to increase the percentage of cases of childhood illness treated within 24 hours of symptom onset - an indication of quality healthcare delivery.

Improved prenatal consultation coverage

Integrate Health aims to increase the percentage of women receiving prenatal consultations before delivery, to ensure women receive the appropriate care they need to have a healthy birth.

Improved facility-based delivery coverage

Integrate Health have a goal to increase the percentage of recorded births that take place within facilities supported by Integrate Health to ensure women deliver with access to a skilled provider.

Improved contraceptive coverage rate

Integrate Health aims to increase the percentage of eligible women effectively protected by a modern Family Planning method to ensure women have control over their reproductive health.

Improved maternal and under-five mortality rates

Integrate Health aims to reduce under-five and maternal mortality across their treatment areas

Type of grant funding given

$1,260,000 AUD

*Unrestricted funded grants from October 2020 to present
  • Ensure 93% of all cases of childhood illness are evaluated and treated who are evaluated and treated by CHWs (during the first 24 hours following symptom onset) across both Guinea and Togo intervention sites
  • Ensure a 95% attendance rate of children under five for their new/first consultation session with a health professional at a health center across both Guinea and Togo intervention sites 
  • Ensure 95% of pregnant women attended four prenatal visits in a health center across both Guinea and Togo intervention sites
  • Ensure 95% of pregnant women deliver at a health facility (out of total recorded births) across both Guinea and Togo intervention sites
Launch new sites in five communities in the Kéran district in October 2020 and seven communities in the Binah district in July 2021, serving a total population of 166,418 and 204,000, respectively.

IH successfully launched in the Kéran district in October 2020, reaching a population of 166,000. On July 5, 2021, IH launched the Integrated Primary Care Program in the Binah district in seven communities, serving a total population of 204,000.

By June 30 2021, across the Kozah, Bassar, Dankpen and Kéran districts, Integrate Health aim to conduct 156,280 Home Visits, Increase the Prenatal Consultation Coverage Rate from 44% to 50%, Increase the number of Facility-Based Deliveries from 2,878 to 4,123

Target achieved: Home Visits - FY21 actual 230,372 Target on track: Prenatal Coverage Rate - FY21 actual 46%. Target achieved: Facility-Based Deliveries - FY21 actual 4,639. Due to the Prenatal Consultation Coverage Key Performance Indicator not being met, the Integrate Health Monitoring, Evaluation, Research, and Learning team intend to host a monthly data review meeting to discuss trends in the data from the last year, talk through lessons learned, and ensure targets are set appropriately for Fiscal Year 22.

Pilot a customised suite of Mobile Health applications for 79 Community Health Workers (CHW) across the Kozah and Bassar districts, and collect lessons learned from the pilot to inform national Mobile Health strategy.

IH is piloting three unique Mobile Health applications. In the Kozah district, IH CHWs successfully used the Medic Mobile application, with paper-based backups removed. 68 CHWs in the Dankpen and Bassar districts use ThinkMD with paper backups. Lastly, IH CHWs in the Bassar district are supervising UNICEF CHWs in their use of OpenSRP. IH eHealth team met with MOH eHealth leads, solidifying the relationship and paving the way for future collaboration.

Continue to support the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 response at the regional and national levels through technical assistance and equipment procurement.

In partnership with COVID-19 Action Fund for Africa, IH procured personal protective equipment for all 11,000 CHWs nationally. In March 2021, IH and the MOH began constructing an infectious disease centre in Kara, ultimately reinforcing the MOH’s pandemic preparedness. IH will continue to support the MOH in their COVID-19 response plan as needed.

Continue to respond to requests from the Ministry of Health for specialised technical assistance related to community health, including cost subsidisation policy, community health harmonisation workshops, and/or the National Health and Development Plan.

In November, the government of Togo asked IH, in partnership with the Financing Alliance for Health and with support from UNFPA, to create a costing investment case to determine potential options to eliminate user fees for maternal and neonatal care. The presentation was well-received, and the government has signalled their interest in the middle package of care, nearly $50USD per pregnancy, making care free for 300,000 women annually in Togo.

Achieved
Achieved
On-track
Milestone on-track for completion within specified timeframe, outside of Thankyou’s grant period.
Mostly achieved
>90%+ milestone completion.
Partially achieved
Milestone <90% completed within grant period.
Delayed
Milestone delayed, not completed within grant period.

FY2021 impact report

Integrate Health FY2021 Impact Report

Find out more

Annual Reports and Financial Statements The Integrate Health Solution Evaluation of Integrate Health’s Solution
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