Utilization of the Community Health Worker Assessment and Improvement Matrix to Strengthen Village Health Team Systems in Uganda: A Case for Kitgum District

In Uganda community empowerment and mobilization for health has been enshrined in national health policies and strategies since 1999. The USAID Health Care Improvement Project developed the CHW AIM Toolkit that includes a guided self-assessment and performance improvement process to help organizations identify program strengths and address gaps for improving functionality. The study was conducted to ascertain the extent to which the utilization of the CHW- AIM strengthened the VHT systems in accordance with the MoH 2010 guidelines. Using the CHW-AIM methodology at the end line assessment, 6 program components scored 3 a best practice of functionality (1, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 10), 8 program components scored a functional score of 2 (2, 5, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15) and only one component scored a partially functional score of 1 (7). The District and the Health Facilities should use this VHT Assessment tool periodically to identify areas of weakness and make improvements accordingly.