Angola Health System Assessment
At the request of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)/Angola, a team performed an assessment of the Angolan health system in August 2005. The purpose of the health system assessment is to inform the Mission’s development of a new health program for 2006−2011. To conduct the assessment, the team tested a new health systems assessment approach developed as part of the global Mainstreaming Health Systems Strengthening Initiative of USAID’s Office of Health, Infectious Disease and Nutrition. The team found several weaknesses including a lack of human and institutional capacity and supervision; and insufficient public health financing of basic inputs for service delivery (e.g., supplies, drugs, equipment, electricity, potable water) contributing to user fees being charged by some public facilities. Strengths included the quantity of nurses, Ministry of Health and donor plans to increase staff capacity, the dedication of public sector health staff at multiple levels, implementation of some quality guidelines (IMCI and maternal health); and public−private partnerships in health.Author: Catherine Connor, Yogesh Rajkotia, Ya-Shin Lin, Paula Figueiredo
