USAID Health Care Improvement Project
University Research Co., LLC
7200 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 600
Bethesda, MD 20814
(301) 654-8338
About us
The USAID Health Care Improvement Project (HCI) is the global mechanism of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide technical leadership and assistance for improving health care delivery and health workforce management in USAID-assisted countries. The project is managed by University Research Co., LLC (URC) through task orders issued under the Health Care Improvement Indefinite Quantity Contract (IQC).
HCI seeks to develop the capacity of health systems to apply modern quality improvement (QI) approaches to make essential services better meet the needs of underserved populations; improve efficiency and reduce costs from poor quality; and improve health worker capacity, engagement, and performance.
The project builds on 20 years of USAID-supported experience and innovation to adapt QI approaches that have been highly successful in industrial countries—such as continuous quality improvement, collaborative improvement, job aids and other reminders, self-assessment, and performance-based incentives—to the needs of USAID-assisted countries. Grounded in results from over 30 developing and middle-income countries showing that health care quality and outcomes can be significantly improved by applying improvement methods, HCI helps country programs apply QI to scale up evidence-based interventions and improve outcomes in maternal and newborn care, child health, family planning, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and non-communicable diseases.
HCI assists Ministries of Health, non-governmental organizations, and other country health service providers to apply quality improvement methods to strengthen the continuum of integrated maternal, newborn, and child health services at community, primary, and reference levels. The project supports global, regional, and national initiatives in MNCH, including Helping Babies Breathe, essential newborn care, active management of the third stage of labor, Kangaroo Mother Care, and community case management of child illness. In collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), HCI is contributing to the global effort to develop and test a Safe Childbirth Checklist to improve patient safety and quality of delivery care. HCI actively collaborates with other USAID implementing agencies to harmonize tools and approaches for improving the quality of MCH.
Briefs
Every skilled birth attendant should be able to perform interventions that prevent asphyxia and to resuscitate a non-breathing baby; however, the level of professional expertise among birth attendants in performing these interventions varies widely.
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Briefs
Over 80% of premature babies are born between 32 and 37 weeks of gestation. Most newborn deaths among this group are caused by lack of simple, essential care such as warmth and feeding support.
Briefs
Severe bacterial infections are a major cause of morbidity and mortality among newborns and young infants in the developing world.
Tools/Guidelines
USAID’s strategic approach to MNCH is to increase the number of functional community health workers serving in priority countries.
Tools/Guidelines
This guide introduces health professionals in developing countries to the collaborative improvement approach to increase the effectiveness of maternal, newborn, child health, and family planning services.
Briefs
Summary of the first Latin America and Caribbean Regional Kangaroo Mother Care meeting, held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, December 7-9, 2011.
Briefs
Combining clinical training, quality improvement, and peer-to-peer learning has been successful in rapidly improving maternal and newborn care at both the facility and community levels.
Briefs
A summary of HCI's work implementing KMC programs in five Latin American countries.
Briefs
A summary of HCI's work in KMC in five Latin American countries.
April 19, 2013
This short film highlights how quality improvement methodology has positively impacted maternal, newborn and child health services in Uganda.
April 26, 2012
A child is much more likely to survive into adulthood if the severe risks of infancy can be mitigated and they reach that important milestone of their 5th birthday.
