Northern Uganda is in transition from a fragile, post-conflict setting, recovering from 20 years of humanitarian crisis.
With the cessation of conflict in late 2006, people began moving back to their land and rebuilding their lives.
It has taken longer to re-establish access to nutrition and health services across the region.
Health systems remain weak and challenges remain around access, staff retention, quality of care, and the availability of essential medicines and health supplies.
The overarching goal of NU Health was to increase access to quality health care services in Northern Uganda.
This aligned with the Government of Uganda’s commitment to deliver equitable health care and to endorse the principle of ‘health care as a right’.
Solution
Montrose implemented the DFID-funded NU Health project, a controlled trial designed to assess the benefits of results-based financing relative to traditional input-based financing in delivering quality health care.
In health, the aim of RBF is to motivate individuals or teams to improve services through innovation and more accountable management of resources.
Impact
Diagnosis and treatment for many conditions were stronger under RBF.
Quality of Care scores were higher in the RBF region than in the IBF region.
Percentage of pneumonia cases treated correctly increased from 39% at baseline to 90% in Year 3.
Percentage of diarrhoea cases treated correctly rose from 44% at baseline to 91% in Year 3.
NU Health developed the capacity of district health teams to: