Technical implementation began mid-October in Lilongwe, Malawi, for the GIZ-funded project 'Health System Strengthening with a Focus on Reproductive Health'. The 1.2M EUR project is within the framework of GIZ’s technical cooperation programme ‘Health System Strengthening with a Focus on Reproductive Health’ (2012 –2016) and will support the MoH with special emphasis on maternal and neonatal health.

Despite positive overall development, Malawi’s health sector still faces significant challenges. The project team will support the MoH by providing technical assistance in the development of hospital reform and autonomy policies as well as providing technical assistance and capacity development to selected facilities (Kamuzu and Queen Elizabeth Central Hospitals and selected teaching institutions) to enable implementation of hospital reforms according to relevant national policies.

Specific project activities will include providing policy advice on hospital autonomy and reform processes to the MoH;  advising selected institutions and two tertiary hospitals on the implementation of hospital autonomy and reform processes according to the relevant policies, including capacity development at individual and institutional level; providing state-of-the-art technical advice and support to the hospital autonomy and hospital reform processes including hospital and patient record information systems and medical equipment inventories, accounting/budgeting, tendering and procurement.

The project kick-off meeting took place in the GIZ Health Office in Lilongwe and brought together GIZ's Technical Advisor on hospital reform, Unarose Hogan, as well as representatives from the Ministry of Health (MoH), Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe and Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre. EPOS representatives included UK expert Dr. Christopher Potter and Dr. Yahya Ipuge, an expert from Tanzania, bringing together extensive experience in hospital reform in the UK as well as in developing countries. Susanne Wessel-Ellermann, EPOS backstopper of the project, joined the team for the kick off.