London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

ACERS Project Background 

The Developing Acute Care and Emergency Referral Systems (ACERS) Project is a three-year, USAID-funded implementation research project, implemented iteratively over 2 years in the Northern and Oti Regions, specifically in Gushegu and Nkwanta South municipalities, respectively. ACERS aims to improve maternal and newborn survival rates by increasing care-seeking behaviour, strengthening emergency referral and dispatch systems, and providing high-quality emergency obstetric and newborn care (EmONC) services.  

ACERS utilizes implementation research (IR) and is built upon Ghana’s successful primary health care (PHC) system. It leverages the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation-funded Community-based Health Planning and Services Plus (CHPS+) to inform evidence-based national policies and strategies for EmONC and emergency referrals. In partnership with the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Ghana National Ambulance Service (NAS), Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Columbia University sidHARTe-Strengthening Emergency Systems Program, Mailman School of Public Health (CU), and the University of Ghana Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS), ACERS uses the Three Delays Model to deliver an innovative, comprehensive package of community, pre-facility, and facility-based interventions.1 ACERS is integrated into the Government of Ghana’s programming and is designed to be sustainable and scalable by being woven into the fabric of GHS and NAS' health systems structures.   

Speakers

Dr Foster Ansong-Bridjan, Ghanian National Ambulance Service (NAS)

Dr R Moresky, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Public Health, Director of the sidHARTe - Strengthening Emergency Systems, and  Columbia University Global Emergency Medicine Fellowship