THE 8TH QUALITY IMPROVEMENT (QI) CONFERENCE

The 8th QI conference was the 2nd of its kind hosting over 2,000 participants. An estimated 1800 (90%) participants attended virtually through Zoom, YouTube, and Facebook while only about 200 (10%) participants attended physically at Speke Resort Hotel in Munyonyo. This innovation was put in place to ensure that Ministry of Health continues to consolidate the gains made in sharing the QI knowledge generated in the sector ensuring strict adherence to the COVID 19 control and prevention measures.

TheNational QI Conference was therefore timely and had been planned to provide a forum for peer learning through showcasing QI work from across the country, coupled with expert presentations on QI work from national and international experts. The conference brought together delegates from all levels of the health sector including, development & implementing partners, health care service providers and health consumer organizations under the theme “Fostering Delivery of Quality Health Care in the Context of COVID19”.

The Honorable Minister of Health Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng officially launched the three-day (1-3 December 2021) conference whose main objectives looked at client centered quality of care to ensure patient and health service provider safety through evidence-based practices.

Other objectives included,

•To share new QI innovations in the management of COVID-19 

•To mobilize and advocate for support resources from leaders and financing actors towards improvement of quality of health care during the Covid-19 pandemic 

•To highlight policy issues for building resilient and sustainable delivery of quality health care in the context of Covid-19 

•To discuss the impact of Covid-19 on the delivery of quality health services and demonstrate achievements  made so far in controlling Covid-19 

•To launch the national quality improvement framework and strategic pan 2020/21-2025, the Qi database and the patient safety establishment through 5S-CQI-TQM project  

METS was a proud sponsor of the 8th Conference and designed the National QI Database. The system which was launched by Hon. Dr. Aceng allows monitoring of QI and performance improvement in the health sector. 

Among the presenters from METS was Jenkins Tanga Obbo whose presentation focused on Enhancing the uptake of Oral HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Services among Female Sex Workers in Uganda.

Ibrahim Musa Lutalo made a poster presentation on Reducing incidence of Adverse Events (AEs) post-circumcision through regular Adverse Event Monitoring and Auditing in CDC supported SMC sites in Uganda.

Dr. Simon Muhumuza and Evelyn Akello chaired the sessions on Service Delivery.

Hon. Dr. Aceng thanked partners, committees, posters and paper writers, participants, and presenters for being available and interactive and urged the participants to take the lessons from the conference and apply them.  She further emphasized the need for accountability and be more responsive to ensure safe custody of the resources entrusted to each one of us at different levels of service delivery.