Ministry of Health governance and management structures implementation guidelines
Decision-making requires engaging stakeholders at different levels to determine the best course of action to meet the goals of an institution. This requires elaborate organisational structures with inspirational leadership that make room for change and innovation.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) has had defined governance and management structures which have existed for a long time. The tasks and responsibilities of members of the structures were defined, but some of these responsibilities have continued to be affected by new changes and developments taking place in the health sector.
These governance and management structures implementation guidelines have been reviewed and updated this year 2022, to match the demand and need to improve the functionality of these structures, more especially the Technical Working Groups (TWGs).
The review and updating process of the previous guidelines was widely consultative and effort was made to align the new guidelines with the Third MoH National Health Policy, 2021-25 and the MoH Strategic Plan for 2021-25.
The guidelines also accommodated changes following the restructuring of the Ministry of Health headquarters, where eighteen departments were created from the previous six departments.
There have been remarkable changes in disease patterns, occurrence and management in Uganda together with further developments in the health financing and support mechanisms from partners, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the involvement of other stakeholders.
ACRES contributed to the debate of formulation of the guidelines by answering questions posed by policymakers in the Ministry of Health. Policy dialogues were conducted, enabling debates to be guided by well researched evidence.
The revised implementation guidelines for the governance and management structures are timely to facilitate processes needed for more stakeholder participation to deal with the developments taking place in the MoH for improved, informed and effective decision making.