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Introduction: In many low income countries, the delivery of quality health services is hampered by health system-wide barriers which are often interlinked, however empirical evidence on how to assess the level and scope of these barriers is scarce. A balanced scorecard is a tool that allows for wider analysis of domains that are deemed important in achieving the overall vision of the health system. We present the quantitative results of the 12 months follow-up study applying the balanced scorecard approach in the BHOMA intervention with the aim of demonstrating the utility of the balanced scorecard in evaluating multiple building blocks in a trial setting. Methods: The BHOMA is a cluster randomised trial that aims to strengthen the health system in three rural districts in Zambia. The intervention aims to improve clinical care quality by implementing practical tools that establish clear clinical care standards through intensive clinic implementations. This paper reports the findings of the follow-up health facility survey that was conducted after 12 months of intervention implementation. Comparisons were made between those facilities in the intervention and control sites. STATA version 12 was used for analysis. Results: The study found significant mean differences between intervention(I) and control (C) sites in the following domains: Training domain (Mean I:C; 87.5.vs 61.1, mean difference 23.3, p = 0.031), adult clinical observation domain (mean I:C; 73.3 vs.58.0, mean difference 10.9, p = 0.02 ) and health information domain (mean I:C; 63.6 vs.56.1, mean difference 6.8, p = 0.01. There was no gender differences in adult service satisfaction. Governance and motivation scores did not differ between control and intervention sites. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the utility of the balanced scorecard in assessing multiple elements of the health system. Using system wide approaches and triangulating data collection methods seems to be key to successful evaluation of such complex health intervention. Trial number: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01942278 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: There is growing interest in health system performance and recently WHO launched a report on health systems strengthening emphasising the need for close monitoring using system-wide approaches. One recent method is the balanced scorecard system. There is limited application of this method in middle- and low-income countries. This paper applies the concept of balanced scorecard to describe the baseline status of three intervention districts in Zambia. Methodology: The Better Health Outcome through Mentoring and Assessment (BHOMA) project is a randomised step-wedged community intervention that aims to strengthen the health system in three districts in the Republic of Zambia. To assess the baseline status of the participating districts we used a modified balanced scorecard approach following the domains highlighted in the MOH 2011 Strategic Plan. Results: Differences in performance were noted by district and residence. Finance and service delivery domains performed poorly in all study districts. The proportion of the health workers receiving training in the past 12 months was lowest in Kafue (58%) and highest in Luangwa district (77%). Under service capacity, basic equipment and laboratory capacity scores showed major variation, with Kafue and Luangwa having lower scores when compared to Chongwe. The finance domain showed that Kafue and Chongwe had lower scores (44% and 47% respectively). Regression model showed that children's clinical observation scores were negatively correlated with drug availability (coeff −0.40, p = 0.02). Adult clinical observation scores were positively association with adult service satisfaction score (coeff 0.82, p = 0.04) and service readiness (coeff 0.54, p = 0.03). Conclusion: The study applied the balanced scorecard to describe the baseline status of 42 health facilities in three districts of Zambia. Differences in performance were noted by district and residence in most domains with finance and service delivery performing poorly in all study districts. This tool could be valuable in monitoring and evaluation of health systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]