KIT worked with the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology (ISUOG), to assess their outreach programme and provide strategic directions to improve global access to obstetric and gynaecology ultrasound.

As of 2020, ISUOG aims to move to more comprehensive programming for its areas of impact: training & education and beyond, including global access to obstetric and gynaecology ultrasound, and health systems strengthening.

KIT conducted an assessment that served to understand ISUOG Outreach’s current capacity & impact, align these with the global needs and inform its future strategy for sustainable impact.

We took ISUOG outreach vision –every woman should undergo a safe and patient-centred quality ultrasound (US) as part of their healthcare evaluation – and its current theory of change (ToC) as a starting point. We used their vision and ToC to define their spheres of interest and used these as a framework for the assessment that focused on three case-study countries (Sudan, Rwanda, Oman).

The fours spheres were:

1. Training and education,
2. Health system Strengthening
3. Global access
4. Advocacy

Our findings

The outreach program seemed to be well established with clear evidence for its direct effects on knowledge and skills-building of the trainees. Respondents in this evaluation expressed the positive impact of the program on the quality and practices of the trainees. 

Qualitative perspectives from professionals that had been involved in the programme, together with evidence from the global literature, confirmed the need to further invest in sustainable quality-assured training and health systems alongside interventions that address access for patients.

Our recommendations

KIT provided a set of overall recommendations that should inform ISUOG’s strategies towards more comprehensive programming. Additionally, specific recommendations were provided for each sphere of interest on how to improve access, strengthen systems around ultrasound delivery and advocate for improved services.

For the more comprehensive recommendations see the evaluations report.