EQUIST: A Data Impact Tool Driving National Change in the Ghanaian Health Sector

Seeing the importance of a tool that provides this in-depth analysis of health sector priority areas, the Ministry of Health, Ghana recently collaborated with Community Systems Foundation technical staff to bring 2017 data into EQUIST.

This was done by linking local data systems with the EQUIST database. From this training, Ministry counterparts also focused on the analysis of data in low…

Costing National Immunization Strategy through the NIS.Cost App

In 2021, CSF initiated collaboration with UNICEF HQ immunization section towards the development of the NIS.Cost costing application.

The NIS.Cost application aims to provide national health officials with a framework to build a structured National Immunization Strategy.

The application allows for the costing of Activities identified under the National Immunization Strategy.

This collaborative work is…

EQUIST Workshop to Identify Strategies for U5M Reduction in Sierra Leone

In partnership with UNICEF HQ and UNICEF Sierra Leone, Community Systems Foundation (CSF) facilitated a capacity building workshop that enabled health policy planners to use the Equitable Impact Sensitive Tool (EQUIST).

This was done to support the government in modeling  the impact of scaling up life-saving health and nutrition interventions, to reduce child mortality in the country.

This…

Facilitating Knowledge Exchange to Improve Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Quality of Care (Qoc) Network is a partnership across 11 governments that aims to build and strengthen national institutions and mechanisms for improving the quality of care in the health sector.

The QoC Network plays a crucial role in facilitating country engagement and supporting Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (RMNCH) initiatives around the…

UNICEF Launches Immunization Costing App

UNICEF has released the National Immunization Strategy Costing App (NIS.Cost App), on  -immunizationeconomics.org- a community resource on the economics of immunization.  CSF partnered with UNICEF to design and develop this app.

The NIS.Cost App is designed to provide countries with an app for high-level planning of…

Identifying Bottlenecks and Root-Causes to Develop Investment Cases through EQUIST with Ministry of Health Officials in Malawi​

From 16-17 May 2019, the Ministry of Health Department of Planning and Policy Development (MoH DPPD), with support from UNICEF HQ, organized a Bottleneck Analysis and Root-cause Analysis Workshop in Lilongwe, Malawi.

The workshop focused on an analysis of the Global Financing Facility (GFF) investment case in Malawi (1). To identify and address gaps in…

Supporting Global Tetanus Elimination Efforts using EQUIST

While global efforts to eradicate Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus (MNT) have drastically reduced the number of cases in the last 20 years, the World Health Organization reported that in 2018 (the latest year for which estimates are available) 25,000 newborns died from tetanus.As countries continue working together to eliminate MNT, UNICEF, with support from CSF, has further enhanced the Equitable Impact Sensitive Tool (EQUIST)…

Building Global Capacity on EQUIST and Strengthening the Delivery of Essential Health Services: A Spotlight on Shahrouh Sharif, Health Advisor

Growing up in Rwanda after the genocide in the late 1990s, Shahrouh experienced firsthand the growing health challenges and disparities that children and women face in fragile contexts. Many were suffering from mental and physical trauma, children were orphaned and cases of HIV/AIDS were rising in the country. Witnessing these…

Modeling Lives Saved with EQUIST for Sub-National Investment Planning in Ghana

Throughout the last two decades, Ghana has implemented several national measures aimed at improving overall child survival and health equity in the country. [1] While these policies amplify the necessity of health equity, Ministry of Health focal points have had limited capacity to analyse health sector data prior to the introduction of the EQUitable Impact Sensitive Tool (EQUIST) in Ghana.

To…