Development of Health Facility Readiness Tools in Timor-Leste

The Ministry of Health (MoH), Timor-Leste, together with partners, developed health facility readiness assessment or supportive supervision tools in 2014 to ensure availability of health services at health facilities and achieve the goals enshrined in the Ministry’s long-term goals for population health. In 2018, the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Department, MoH, partnered with the Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Program (HITAP), Ministry of Public Health, Thailand and with support from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to review and update the existing tools. This report describes the process of reviewing, updating, and implementing the new set of tools developed.

To review the existing system, HITAP applied multiple methods. The team reviewed literature available in peer-reviewed journals and government reports on the health system and M&E processes in Timor-Leste and on conducting health facility readiness assessments. The team visited various types of health facilities across four districts and conducted key informant interviews and focus group discussions with professionals at various levels of the MoH to glean their understanding of the utility of the tool in the context of the health system. Data on the health facility readiness assessment collected by the M&E team over the years were also analysed. A “problem table” was developed and a stakeholder consultation meeting was held to determine the focus of the next version of tools. Through this process, it was agreed to focus on the design of the tool. Some of main elements involved defining the purpose of the tool, inclusion of additional important parameters, clarifying interpretation of the parameters included, as well as addressing those parameters that were deemed not relevant to the facility level. It was also recognized that this tool served a distinct purpose in addition to the tools operated by other programs in the MoH.

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