Pillars to Effective Performance of Health Unit Management Committees (HUMCs) in Eastern Uganda

Muwanguzi David Gangu, Dr. Otieno George Ochieng, Dr. Keneth Rucha Kibaara & Prof. John Francis Mugisha.
Department of Health Management and Informatics, Kenyatta University, Kenya.
Corresponding author: davidmuwanguzi@yahoo.com

Received May 15, 2019; Revised August 8, 2019; Accepted August 15, 2019

Abstract: This paper presents the pillars of effective performance of Health Unit Management Committees (HUMCs) in Eastern Uganda. It checks out for the current system through which HUMCs perform their duties, and the kind of support they need to be reinforced. The study population comprised 144 HUMCs in 12 facilities. Data was collected using interview guide with unstructured questions and predominantly structured questionnaire. Were obtained and presented largely using descriptive approach. According to results, the pillars for effective performance of HUMCs include training of HUMCs; meetings with district health leaders to get current information on status of health in the district, having meetings with the District Health Teams especially for purposes of making accountabilities, and sanctioning of rewards especially where products of effective performance are not viewed. The investigation also maintained that quite often, monitoring enhances performance of HUMCs given the fact that they are always at health facilities scarcely expecting their work to be monitored. Recommendations were indicated a need to initiate and maintain a high level of financial inputs to ease facilitation and register good performance of HUMCs, and that the ministry of health is not in direct contact with HUMCs, thus there is no transparency and accountability for all services from HUMCs to MoH or from district to HUMCs as directed by the MoH. It would therefore be recommendable to have an approach that enables HUMCs to deliver information that would otherwise not be handled at the district level.