Leveraging governance strategies adopted by health facility governing committees in Response to covid-19 outbreak at the local level in Tanzania: a qualitative study
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Date
2022
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
PLOS
Abstract
The governance of epidemics is very critical for curbing and responding to several infectious
epidemics. This study was conducted to explore the experience of the Health Facility Gov-
erning Committees (HFGCs) on the governance strategies they adopted to levarage the
COVID 19 epidemic in their primary health facilities in Tanzania. An exploratory qualitative
design was employed to study the governance strategies adopted by HFGCs during the
COVID19. In this study, fourteen (14) HFGC chairpersons and ninety one (91) HFGC mem-
bers with experience regulating primary health centers during a COVID 19 pandemic were
involved. The study included four (4) governance response metrics that were discovered to
be commonly used by HFGCs. These included coordinating responders, providing health
information, explaining health hazards, and conducting out health interventions. Despite
variations in implementation strategies, only two (2) governance response measures, coor-
dinating responders and implementing, were found to be consistently applied by the majority
of HFGCs. The nature of the governance path chosen by the Tanzanian government has
been found to have influenced the slow reaction of primary health care governance actors
such as HFGCs. Despite being empowered by Direct Health Facility Financing, COVID 19
presented challenges to several HFGCs. Though observed to be autonomous and expected
to make judgments based on their circumstances, higher-level governance actors’ opinions
and actions on epidemics influenced the practices of local-level governance actors, includ-
ing HFGCs. Indeed, for the HFGCs’ potential to be realized, they must be empowered in
ways other than fiscal and political decentralization. Other aspects of empowering gover-
nance actors, such as capacity building and education level, should be considered in order
for them to completely realize their potential.
Description
Journal Article
Keywords
governance strategies, covid-19 outbreak, health facility
Citation
Kesale AM, Mwkasangula E, Muhanga M, Mahonge C (2022) Leveraging governance strategies adopted by health facility governing committees in response to COVID-19 outbreak at the local level in Tanzania: A qualitative study. PLOS Glob Public Health 2(11): e0001222. https:// doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001222