The Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ) through the Strengthening Quality Improvement – Person Centered Care Approaches Project (SQI-PCC) participated in the 15th annual conference on the science of Dissemination and Implementation (D&I) in health, which was held in Washington DC USA, in December 2022.

The conference, co-hosted by the National Institute of Health (NIH) and Academy Health, convened a growing network of research scientists and peers to explore the latest innovations in D&I science with a focus on the opportunities that lie ahead for the next 10years.

Through outlining of the priorities, the science of D&I conference aims to ensure that evidence is used to inform decisions that will improve the health of individuals and communities. It further helps to realize the full potential of evidence to optimize health care by bridging the gap between research, practice, and policy. 

The CIDRZ SQI-PCC which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation made three main presentations on the following topics:

• The Impact of differential mobile airtime incentives to drive participation in person centered care surveys in Zambia, presented by Jacob Mutale.
• The Provider perspective on patient centeredness: participatory formative research and rapid analysis methods to inform the design and implementation of a facility – based care improvement intervention in Zambia, presented by Chanda Mwamba.
• An Interactive Quality Improvement Process Using Patient Experience Data, presented by Sandra Simbeza.

The SQI-PCC is a 12- month project that aims at improving quality public health care services in Zambia, leading to better healthcare outcomes for people living with HIV by supporting the MOH Performance Improvement/Quality Assurance Quality Improvement (PI /QA/QI) strategy being implemented. It runs from 1st September 2022 to 31st August 2023 following successful implementation of the Person-centered Care (PCC) Study between August 2017 and May 2022.

CIDRZ implemented the ‘Person-Centered Public Health for HIV Treatment in Zambia’ (PCPH) study across 24 Ministry of Health (MoH) facilities in Lusaka Province, Zambia. The study ran from August 2019 to November 2021, with the aim of improving health care workers’ and patient experiences that would then lead to improved service delivery and clinical outcomes, including retention and viral suppression among patients living with HIV.

PCPH intervention trained health care workers in PCC principles and skills including communication practices, mentored health care workers on application of PCC, measured the patient experience, improved facility-level performance.

The SQI-PCC project now has three (3) specific aims which include; assessing the current landscape of the national PI/QM agenda, engaging diverse stakeholders to develop a roadmap for strengthening PI/QM programs, integrating promising activities from the recently completed person-centered care (PCC) study, and providing a combination of technical assistance, policy development/advocacy, and engagements to facility, national, regional, and global quality improvement efforts.