KIT trained 39 staff members from Sudan’s Federal and State Health Ministries and the World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office. The goal is preparing them for training 184 Locality Health Management Teams. In turn, the Locality Health Management Teams each provide health care for between 70,000 to 500,000 people.

The Locality teams carry out the operational planning and steering of health activities with both public and private health-care providers. The aim of the training is to support more effective management in Sudanese health care.

Sudan’s Health System

Many countries have initiated a process of decentralization, and Sudan is no exception. The country has over 40 million citizens, with health care spread out across Sudan’s 18 States and around 184 Localities (or districts).

Across the country, the Locality (district) level is the place where most operational activities and service provision takes place. This makes coordinating local-level government activities to improve, restore and promote health extremely important. As a result providing appropriate training to accomplish this task a high priority for the government.

Training for Health Management Teams

Recently, one noteworthy way KIT has supported effective Sudanese health care is with its 10 day course focused on Localities. In it teams analysed their local health situations, and the most important challenges faced in delivering health care and promoting health. After this trainees then designed appropriate interventions to address these challenges.

Alongside this two week exercise, KIT also ran interactive teaching sessions to provide the background for the continuous exercise. On top of this, the course also integrated a number of management-skills sessions, including: communication, conflict management, supervision, critical-data analysis, team work, and providing constructive feedback.

During the concluding two days KIT trained participants in interactive training skills, through micro-teaching sessions. Towards the end the trainers discussed the adaptations needed to the proposed course content to make it more context specific and appropriate for Localities.

Building a Better Health System

The importance of the course lies in building a foundation to grow effective health care across Sudan. To do so course participants will now take these skills as aids in developing the final training of Locality Health Management Teams. By creating a sound foundation from which to train these teams, it is hoped that Sudan’s health system can experience better coordination and management.

However, the management of health care and promotion of health at all levels in the country is also part of a bigger picture. KIT and Sudan’s efforts are also contributing to Universal Health Coverage and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Ultimately, it is this coordination of small, medium, and large health goals that both parties are working hard to achieve.