Essential Health Services Program

The Essential Health (EH) activity aims to increase the use of health services by underserved people in vulnerable communities of Burma in order to improve maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH) and TB health outcomes.

EH will receive only TB funds in FY 2021 due to low expenditure rates of MNCH funding over the past two years but will continue to expand access to MNCH services using prior year funds.

In the wake of the coup d'etat and ongoing health worker strike in the public sector, EH will continue program adaptations to diversify the delivery channels for TB services.

EH will support Burma's efforts to regain progress towards TB elimination, which were stalled during the COVID-19 pandemic.

EH will work with private pharmacies to screen and refer suspected TB patients to public and private sector facilities, with a focus on referral to facilities that offer the most accessible services to the client.

EH will provide technical assistance (TA) to private general practitioners to enhance their capacity for TB diagnosis and to expand the use of 99DOTS, a digital adherence tool to increase the TB treatment success rate.

National TB Program will assume leadership of the technology to promote national-level expansion, and EH will support this expansion through direct 99DOTS rollout in seven high-burden townships of Yangon.

Due to COVID-19, EH will continue to employ safe approaches to implementation, ensuring all staff have access to Infection Prevention and Control supplies and continuing with a virtual training format for TA to service providers as appropriate. This activity s