Public Health England’s International Health Regulations (IHR) Strengthening Programme aims to build health system capacity in a number of countries and regions in Africa and Asia, with a view to improving global health security. The PHE-led programme was jointly conceived by PHE and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), in close consultation with the Department of International Development (DFID). It aims to improve global health security by supporting and strengthening national and regional (supra-national) health protection systems. These systems enable public health threats to be detected, prevented and responded to, before they become potential cross-border emergencies reportable under the IHR.
Our approach
Itad is supporting the IHR Programme to generate the intended outcomes and impact as the third-party monitoring and evaluation agent. We have categorised the Evaluation and Verification Questions into three segments, asking whether the IHR Programme is doing the right things, in the right way, to achieve the right results. We are adopting a utilisation-focused approach based on interrogating a refined theory of change, to explore the contribution of PHE’s capacity building and coordination activities to outcomes within the context of national health protection systems.
At key learning moments in the evaluation we will bring together stakeholders to reflect on how, why and to what extent the supported interventions are addressing the problems they were designed to combat and contributing to wider strengthening of the use of evidence for decision-making. In addition to this internal learning function, we will also support key decisions at key moments (which we will determine in consultation with PHE) such as upcoming HMG spending reviews and provide learning for the wider sector. Our work will also serve the programme’s accountability objectives by reporting results within our verification system, in our role as independent monitor.
Itad have brought together a strong team that combines extensive experience in managing and delivering robust, utilisation-focused evaluations, with significant expertise in GHS, public health, health system strengthening, epidemiological surveillance systems, and building institutional effectiveness through partnerships and capacity building. We are also drawing on extensive methodological expertise in theory-based evaluation, assessment of capacity building, systems and workforce interventions, verification and contribution analysis.
Contact Jon Cooper (jon.cooper@itad.com) if you would like to discuss this project.
Image: DFID/Russell Watkins (CC BY 2.0)
