Our Projects
Current Projects
Explore our ongoing and recently completed projects that are transforming healthcare systems across Africa.
Primary Health Care Performance Management (PHC-PM) Project
The Challenge
County health systems in Kenya face gaps in data use, accountability and performance management, limiting the effectiveness of primary health care services. Sustainable progress requires more than systems and tools; it calls for empowered county teams that can continuously learn, adapt and improve.
Our Approach
- Participatory Action Research (PAR): County teams lead the process of planning, reflection and action.
- Baseline Assessment: A comprehensive review helped identify key performance gaps.
- Co-created Indicators: Locally relevant metrics now guide county-level decision-making.
- Ongoing Support: Hecta provides technical assistance and facilitates peer learning platforms for cross-county knowledge exchange.
Progress
The project is embedding a performance-driven culture within county health systems, enabling data-informed decisions, improving service delivery and strengthening outcomes for communities. In the broader context, the PHC-PM Project supports Kenya's Universal Health Coverage (UHC) reforms and contributes to Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being.
MaPEMA POCUS Project
The Challenge
Maternal and newborn health outcomes in Kenya are limited by inadequate access to diagnostic tools at the primary care level. Many complications go undetected until it's too late, underscoring the need for early and accurate detection to ensure safer pregnancies and deliveries.
Our Approach
- The Making POCUS Available for Every Mother (MaPEMA - Swahili for 'early') Project is improving maternal and newborn health by bringing point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) to the frontlines of primary healthcare.
- Implemented by Hecta Consulting in partnership with the Centre for Public Health and Development (CPHD), the project equips health workers with portable ultrasound devices and practical training to detect high-risk pregnancies early.
- Strengthens system integration by combining training, policy, and financing interventions.
- Conducted a landscape assessment to identify funding and implementation gaps for obstetric POCUS.
- Developed policy briefs and roadmaps that now guide the sustainable integration of POCUS within Kenya's health system.
Progress
By strengthening diagnostic capacity at the primary care level, MaPEMA POCUS is helping protect mothers and newborns while laying the foundation for an equitable, resilient and responsive maternal health system in Kenya.
GSMA Vaccibox Project
The Challenge
In Turkana County, unreliable electricity and long distances make vaccine storage and delivery difficult. These challenges often cause temperature fluctuations, vaccine wastage, and reduced coverage---leaving remote communities vulnerable.
Our Approach
- The GSMA Vaccibox Project, led by Hecta Consulting and Drop Access, is transforming vaccine delivery through a solar-powered refrigeration system equipped with Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) technology for real-time temperature monitoring.
- This innovation ensures vaccines remain safe and effective throughout the supply chain.
- Hecta is conducting baseline and endline studies to measure improvements in cold chain efficiency, vaccine coverage, and service delivery outcomes.
- Findings will inform policy, strengthen supply chains and create a scalable model for reaching underserved populations.
Progress
By safeguarding vaccines and improving cold chain systems, the project is protecting lives, boosting immunization coverage and advancing progress toward universal immunization access.
ACT-SDF Project
The Challenge
As donor funding declines, many African countries face growing health financing gaps that threaten essential services and national health priorities. Building sustainable domestic funding systems has become critical to ensure continuity, resilience, and country ownership of health programs.
Our Approach
- The African Consortium for Sustainable Domestic Funding (ACT-SDF), led by Hecta Consulting, supports countries in strengthening health financing systems and reducing reliance on external aid.
- Operating in Zambia, Tanzania, and Senegal, the consortium works closely with Ministries of Health to conduct situation analyses to identify technical assistance needs.
- Facilitate country dialogues to validate findings and co-develop technical roadmaps aligned with government priorities.
- Promote resource reprogramming and efficiency gains in the short term.
- Strengthen long-term strategies for expanding fiscal space, pooling budgets and harmonizing planning.
Progress
ACT-SDF is facilitating the transition of countries from aid dependence towards resilient, self-sustaining health financing systems, empowering governments to sustainably fund and manage their health priorities.
Other Projects
Explore our portfolio of completed and ongoing projects.
A Health Facility Assessment Study in Higher and Tertiary Education Institutions (HTEIs) was commissioned by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in partnership with the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). This is part of UNESCO's Our Lives, Our Future (O3 Plus) Project, a multi-country project aiming to promote youth friendly services in institutions. HECTA team experts inclusive of young people implemented a mixed method research study in 10 campuses of the University of Nairobi and the main campus of Mount Kenya University to assess alignment of health facilities to WHO Global Standards for Quality Health Care Services for Young People.
HECTA conducted a research project to generate comprehensive high-quality evidence on Kenya's policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic, to inform the development of a comprehensive framework for management of emerging threats and support the design and implementation of related development program, diplomacy and policy interventions. Data was collected at national and county levels (Trans Nzoia, Kisumu and Lamu). The project applied a unique approach to the analysis, which entailed developing a framework for thought and action that is based on five policy levers that governments can consider for a better sectorwide response to health emergencies in the future.
Implemented in partnership with Strathmore University and the Open Phences Hub, the FCDO funded project aimed to strengthen public private engagement, collaboration and partnerships for shared prosperity and public good. The work entailed unpacking the policy/legal/regulatory instruments governing uptake and scaling of innovations and partnerships more broadly; Studying the local (four counties') RMNCAH market to understand need, locally relevant innovations, financing landscape; Bringing ecosystem actors across four Kenyan counties together to share findings and facilitate discussions towards a shared RMNCAH vision/goal.
Hecta Consulting has been contracted by AMREF Strategic Purchasing Africa Resource Center (SPARC) to conduct a landscape analysis of the health financing environment for curriculum development to train health managers/health care providers in health financing. The landscape analysis will explore the healthcare financing space in Kenya for strengths and weaknesses of training contents and approaches to equipping health and managers through short courses to strengthen health financing and advance UHC.
AMREF and the National Cancer Institute of Kenya asked HECTA to lead the multi-actor and multiagency initiative of developing the Kenya National Cervical Elimination Framework. This was in line with global WHO cervical cancer elimination strategy through 90-70-90 targets. The framework was developed through desktop reviews and stakeholder engagements of key members from various disciplines including the health profession, policy makers, religious leaders and cultural leaders.
To support county governments to build/strengthen health products and technologies supply chain systems through the provision of targeted technical assistance to optimize supply chain performance in twenty-four (24) counties. The areas of focus included strengthening county supply chain governance systems; improving county level supply chain management capacity through coaching and mentorship; quantification (forecasting and supply planning) to help counties determine commodity needs.
The Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya needed analytical support to recommend amendments to pharmacy practice policy and laws. Hecta Consulting was contracted in 2018 to carry out a detailed landscape review, and gave recommendations, which guided PSK's submission to parliament. Project was funded by the Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya and the Business Advocacy Fund (BAF).
Following a major medical error in early 2018, the Kenyatta National Hospital Management Board contracted Hecta to carry out an extensive hospital operations, patient safety and quality management review. This resulted in key changes in the management of quality and operations at the Hospital. This work was jointly undertaken with PKF Consulting, and was funded by the Kenyatta National Hospital.
Following concerns at the Global Fund over in-country accountability mechanism, Aidspan contracted Hecta Consulting to carry out a study to understand health systems accountability pathways. Hecta Consulting was contracted in 2014-15 to carry out a detailed review of the accountability mechanisms.
Imperial Health sciences (IHS) contracted Hecta to carry out a detailed review of the flow of the Global Fund's Health Systems Strengthening funding across sub-Saharan Africa. The review covered 14 countries (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Benin, DRC, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, South Sudan, Swaziland and Zimbabwe). The aim was to understand the role of Global Fund support on health systems, beyond direct support for the three diseases.
Hecta carried out an economic evaluation assessing health outcomes, psycho-social well-being and impact of KMMP across various sites. The study was done in 18 Kenyan facilities providing either peer education and psychosocial support.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation contracted Hecta to conduct analytical work to describe the socio-economic profile of customers visiting shops owned by a retail pharmacy chain. This was to generate evidence on how the Gates Foundation and other development partners can better reach the poor.
Hecta Consulting partnered with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), University of Nigeria (Enugu Campus) and Public Health Foundation (India), to carry out research on e-commerce in health and consolidation of healthcare markets. The project was funded by the Wellcome Trust (UK).
Hecta Consulting was contracted by the WHO's Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (AHPSR) Group to map primary healthcare systems in Kenya, as part of the multi-country PRIMASYS project.
Hecta Consulting provided technical support to the Ministry of Health in the development of community health policy frameworks and implementation guidelines.
In 2018, Hecta was contracted to carry out a socio-economic impact assessment of the Ministry of Health's Managed Equipment Service scheme, a multi-billion-dollar equipment leasing scheme, the largest in Africa. This work was jointly undertaken with PKF Consulting.
Hecta partnered with AstraZeneca and other partners to support discussions and do analytic work towards supporting inclusion of NCDs in the Kenyan UHC benefit package. The Hecta team worked with key stakeholders: Ministry of Health, NHIF, KEMSA and county governments to raise the profile of some key interventions through analytics and stakeholder round table discussions.
Between 2016 and 2018, Hecta consulting worked with partners to conduct a study that mapped the typical breast cancer patient journey and its associated costs, as well as utilized resources, from diagnosis to treatment in the public and private sectors.
Hecta performed a baseline survey of community health services and an e-health readiness assessment for Uasin Gishu County. The project sought to assess both user and customer satisfaction and examine e-health readiness in Uasin Gishu County.
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