name: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
text: The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health was awarded $3.9 million from the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan to set up a national evaluation system to monitor and assess the nationâ€™s health care system. In addition, the Hopkins researchers will assist the Afghan government in developing a health care finance system to sustain health services in the future. The three-year grant, which began in April 2004, is part of $60 million in development aid provided to Afghanistan by the World Bank.
  
   â€œThe evaluation system we are developing will help ensure that the nationâ€™s health needs and goals are met, particularly the needs of the vulnerable populations, such as women and children,â€ said David Peters, MD, DrPH, principal investigator and assistant professor in the Schoolâ€™s Department of International Health. â€œWe are devising a balanced scorecard to see how well basic health services are being provided. Eventually, the Afghan health ministry will be able to monitor and evaluate its own progress as it expands health care throughout the country.â€
  
  The Johns Hopkins researchers will also develop and evaluate a system to finance Afghanistanâ€™s health care in the future. The health financing interventions developed will be tested in the 13 provinces under the performance-based contracts.
  
  In addition to Dr. Peters, the Johns Hopkins research team will include Gilbert Burnham, MD, PhD, co-director of the Schoolâ€™s Center for International Emergency, Disaster and Refugee Studies, assistant professor Hugh Waters, PhD, professor Stan Becker, PhD, and Anbarasi Edward Raj and Walt Jones from the Schoolâ€™s Department of International Health. Ayan Ahmed Noor and Laura Steinhardt, also with the School of Public Health, will be based in Kabul. The School of Public Health will also collaborate with researchers from the Indian Institute of Health Management Research, led by S.D. Gupta, MBBS, PhD, a graduate of Johns Hopkins.
  
  Their work includes:
  
  * Conduct annual assessments to evaluate the quality of service, opinion and attitudes towards and community involvement in healthcare in all 34 provinces of Afghanistan
  * Train and advise Ministry of Public Health provincial and central level staff to improve the monitoring and evaluation of healthcare services
  * Assist the Ministry of Public Health as they strive to deliver a basic package of health services
  * Design, implement and evaluate innovative health care financing pilot projects in selected province
  
  http://www.jhsph.edu/