Institute for Healthcare Improvement: Developing Countries

IHI's Work in Developing Countries

"Notwithstanding the barriers, nothing in my two decades of work on health care improvement has inspired and amazed me quite so much as these early days of systemic improvement in the developing world."

— Don Berwick, MD, President and CEO, Institute for Healthcare Improvement

Mission Statement

IHI’s work in developing countries aims to broadly spread efficient and effective models of health care with the goal of reducing suffering and saving thousands of lives.

Program Description

The Developing Countries Program at IHI strives to bring unique contributions to some of the world’s most resource-poor nations by collaborating with local partners to fundamentally redesign the way health care is both delivered and received. Projects use modern improvement techniques to design and aggressively scale up high-quality interventions that will strengthen the reliability of evidence-based health care and expand outreach among local communities. The focus is on redesigning the way health care is delivered within existing resource constraints.

IHI Developing Countries Program Aims

Life-Saving Results: In each of IHI's Developing Countries projects, the aim is to reduce morbidity and mortality and increase access to both preventative and reactionary care.
Viability: In order to produce the best results for patients and health care systems alike, the Developing Countries projects strive to run efficiently and effectively.
Sustainability: For long-term success, IHI aims to promote capacity building by training all levels of local health care professionals and partners in quality improvement.
Dissemination: Through peer-reviewed journals, IHI.org, face-to-face meetings and word of mouth, the IHI Developing Countries team works to spread its knowledge to partners throughout the world.

Where IHI Works

South Africa

IHI’s work in South Africa began in 2004 and has since then grown to include programs in five provinces. In collaboration with local partners, the projects have contributed to the evolution of the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV/AIDS, and increased access to treatment and testing of HIV/AIDs.

Malawi

MaiKhanda is a collaboration between IHI, Women and Children First, the University College London's Institute of Child Health, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, and the Reproductive Health Unit of the Ministry of Health. MaiKhanda, which began in 2006, is supported by The Health Foundation (based in the UK) and focuses on reducing maternal and neonatal mortality.

Ghana

Project Fives Alive! began in 2008 and is a collaboration between IHI and the National Catholic Health Service. The project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, works to assist Ghana in achieving Millennium Development Goal 4 (reducing morbidity and mortality in children under five).

The Developing Countries Team

To learn more about the Developing Countries Team who work with IHI in Africa, at IHI headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and other locations around the world, please visit our team biographies page.