National PBF forum Successfully held at Bagamoyo

The Christian Social Services Commission (CSSC) with Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre Culminated PBF Pilot Project in Tanzania- Rungwe Pilot by organizing National forum held at Stela Maris- Conference Centre in Bagamoyo Coastal Region.  It was officially opened by KCMC Executive Director- Prof. Ntabayi urged the participants to learn various models of performance payments in the country and come up with the model which might fit Tanzanian Context and moderated by CSSC Executive Director Mr. Peter Maduki.

The forum over-all objective was to enable participants to understand the concept of PBF and its benefits on the health services in terms of utilization, quality of health services, human resources for health, good governance, client satisfaction and some potential risks. On the other hand, the specific objectives of the PBF National forum was to share/ discuss with the key stakeholders and policy makers on PBF experiences from the members of PBF Multi-Country Network, to Share PBF Pilot Project implementation experiences in Tanzania and lesson learnt. Others being to share the result of study Paper on Spill-over effects of PBF Training in Rungwe and finally recommend for the way forward for PBF pilots in Tanzania.

Moreover, the participants were from within the country and outside the country. Within the country, the following development partners participated actively in the forum. WHO, USAID, GIZ, CDC, DANIDA, KFW.CHAI- P4P, Irish AID Embassy of Ireland.  On top of that, the Regional Multi-country PBF Director participated and presented Rwanda PBF Experience as a success story.

From the Government Institutions, the participants were from Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoHSW), Prime- Ministers Office Regional Administration and Local Government (PMO-RALG), National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Regional Medical Officer from Mbeya and DMO Rungwe.

Other stakeholders were from Church whereby a Representative of the Church from the project area participated, and one local NGO invited and participated namely SIKIKA.

Various papers were presented in the forum: Paper on Experience from Pwani P4P project by Mr. Nyombi from CHAI, PBF Rwanda Experience by Christian Habineza, Rungwe PBF Pilot by Sule, Progress with Health Financing Strategy Development- Focus P4P by Mariam Ally, PBF Training Experience in Rungwe by Dr. Njau, the perceived trickle-down effects of Rungwe PBF training by Dr. Manongi and Performance Based financing Training Experiences by Dr. Njau from WHO. 

After the presentations, the participants discussed the presentations and came up with these as key messages:

-          The verification is an important component in PBF/ P4P model so this area  need to be strengthened and further studied

-          With little amount of money used on output based manner, it is possible to bring the difference in the health care sector

-          Policies need some amendment in order to accommodate PBF as it require big change/ reform in the health sector

-          There is need to have PBF professional who will back PBF implementation with the field experiences which can be used evidence

-          Political will is an important ingredient in moving PBF agenda to the next desired level

-          There is need to have sustainability plan in the form of integrating the project in the Government set-up

As a result of these discussions, the members came up with the following as a way forward:

-      Performance  Based Financing is an appropriate  strategy for improving the quality of services in Tanzania

-      To adapt PBF as Health Financing model, the following are prerequisite

     verification system which is really independent

     Political support to push  PBF agenda  forward

     Keep reforming the health sector particularly decentralization by devolution

     Amend policies which can back PBF implementation

     Have professional PBF advocates to spearhead PBF initiatives based on field experiences

-      Tanzania need  to adapt some of the good elements  of  health financing initiatives which suit the Tanzanian Context

-      Promote PBF  training  and advocate for Performance Based Payment models

Generally, the forum was successful as it attained its objective and above that it evoked the members on seeing ways of doing things differently for the sake of the majority of the people who greatly need quality health care services.

See the photo of the participants during forum proceeding.