Overview

Egypt’s Integrated Health Services Project TAKAMOL, is a five-year project funded by USAID and led by Pathfinder International. TAKAMOL promotes an integrated model for strengthening maternal/child health, family planning, and reproductive health services. TAKAMOL, named for the Arabic word for "integration," aims to renovate and equip primary health care clinics and hospitals in Egypt as well as improve management structures and improve the quality of integrated health services in clinics and hospitals now and into the future. CCP is charged with implementing positive behavior change in target communities. In particular, CCP uses participatory and “hands on” training approaches including “on the job” training to improve the interpersonal communication and counseling (IPC/C) skills of service providers and outreach workers in primary health care facilities, hospitals and communities. CCP also provides strategic coordination between TAKAMOL and Egypt’s Communication for Healthy Living (CHL) project to ensure that messages, materials and activities are linked.

Accomplishments

• Training in IPC/C skills including “on the job” training has been provided to health care providers in 200 primary health care units in 12 Upper and Lower Egypt governorates, selected urban poor areas in Cairo, Giza, and Alexandria, and 25 district/general hospitals in Lower Egypt.

• Midterm evaluation results show that IPC/C skills of services providers, especially nurses, improved as a result of IPC/C trainings and other integrated TAKAMOL activities.

• A successful collaboration has been forged between TAKAMOL and CHL with TAKAMOL responsible for the technical content of messages in clinical and hospital settings and CHL responsible for all IEC material production. CHL IEC materials are now available in most TAKAMOL facilities.