Receptivity & resistance to piloting the Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria
National stakeholder receptivity and resistance to piloting the Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria (AMFm) in Ghana (2008 to 2009)
Abstract: Between mid-2009 and end-2011, seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa adopted and implemented the Phase I pilot of the Affordable Medicines Facility- malaria (AMFm). The AMFm — a large-scale program housed at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria — sought to improve access to high-quality malaria treatment through financing and delivery strategies using the public and private sectors. To date, the median implementation outcomes have been considered in the Independent Evaluation commissioned by the Global Fund but country-level processes have gone unexplored. In particular, relatively little rigorous attention or analysis has been given to initial country reactions to the Global Fund's invitation to participate in the AMFm.
In Ghana, where malaria remains a top cause of child mortality and out-patient utilization of the health care system, the initial reaction among key national stakeholders was mixed and hesitant. This presents a puzzle: why would national stakeholders question, and even forgo, piloting a program intended to deliver high-quality treatment for a prevalent, expensive disease? Three thematic interests that encapsulate stakeholder reasons to support and resist the AMFm will be presented and discussed in this presentation.
Biography: Heather currently works at IDinsight in Delhi, India. Her current portfolio focuses largely on evaluating education programs in India. She recently wrapped up her ScD in Health Systems from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; her thesis focused on the adoption and implementation of the Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria in Ghana. She has also worked as an Evaluation Specialist for the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (in India) and as a Research Associate for Innovations for Poverty Action (in Ghana). She holds a Masters in Public Health (University of Michigan) and a BA in Anthropology (Wake Forest University). She blogs, mostly about research and evaluation, at her personal site hlanthorn.com, and tweets at @hlanthorn.
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