Access to anti-malarial medications are essential to human, economic, and social development in affected areas, but are frequently compromised by poor governance and lack of accountability. Life-saving medications go missing along the distribution chain, health center staff absenteeism leaves sick people untreated, and unethical clinicians solicit fees for services that should be delivered free of charge. PTF is piloting the Citizen Action Platform (CAP) to empower citizens to report government abuses in health service delivery and seek redress.
In collaboration with developer Appropriate IT and national CSO the Anti-Corruption Coalition of Uganda (ACCU), PTF is currently undergoing a 9-month pilot of the CAP in the Apac district of Uganda. There has been significant public outcry about poor health services in Apac, a place TIME magazine called ‘the most malarial town on earth,’ prompting PTF to test the CAP on the delivery of health services in the area. Using the CAP, with advising from PTF, ACCU and TAACC will receive, validate, and analyze reports of health service delivery failure and work with authorities at the local and national level to resolve them, then report back to citizens on the results.
At the conclusion of the field deployment, CAP will be an adaptable “plug & play” technology platform to help CSOs globally more effectively monitor government services, engage citizens, and fight corruption. We see great potential in bringing customizable, open source technology platforms together with our proven approach of citizen action and constructive engagement with government. We have 12 years of proof that giving citizens the chance to report corruption improves the treatment they receive. Our civil society partners are eager to deploy the CAP and take it to scale in their own backyards.
Comment(1)-
Nuba Mountains Peoples Foundation says
October 8, 2014 at 8:38 pmAs a child growing up in the Nuba Mountains in the 70’s I saw and experienced the devastating effects of Malaria. I saw people hallucinating by day light under the effect of malaria, to the extent that a Malaria stricken person would need four male nurses to pin him / her down before they could inject them with at least 2 5ml of chloroquine. I sleep walked, screamed and laid down unconscious for weeks. Today, it is even worst, no doctors, no nurses and the only hospital that remained for decades is over crowded. Something must be done by the citizens to change this inhumane situation.