The Cabrini International Health Commission (IHC) was established by Sr Barbara Staley in late 2017. Its purpose is to support Cabrini Health missions in Australia, Argentina, Eswatini, Ethiopia and Guatemala by establishing standards for mission governance, reviewing mission performance against these standards, and working with local leadership to identify opportunities for growth and improvement.
Since its establishment the Commission has sponsored an International Health meeting in August 2018 in Australia. The meeting was attended by representatives from all Cabrini health mission around the world. Also in attendance were representatives from a hospital in Papua New Guinea, and Apunipima, a remote Aboriginal health cooperative from the Cape York Peninsula in Australia. The aims of the meeting were to get to know one another, establish a shared Cabrini identity and lay a foundation for future collaboration.
The current priority for the IHC is to assess all the health missions against the governance and service delivery standards adopted by the Commission.
This is a two-part process:The aim of the tool is to set a standard across the health missions using accepted global good practice.The tool covers 1) Mission and Strategy, 2) Organisational Development, and 3) Services and Interventions.
The health missions are supported by a facilitator to guide them through the self-assessment process.Emphasis is placed on self-identifying areas of strength, and those areas that need strengthening.The health missions are encouraged to use the outcomes of the tool in developing action plans and in their strategic planning.
So far St Philips mission in Eswatini has been through the full process, and their local management are now considering the recommendations from the IHC so that they can prioritise their response and actions. The two Guatemala clinics have completed their part one self-assessment, and they are awaiting a visit from IHC members, hopefully in the new year. We aim for Argentina, Ethiopia and Australia to follow. We are working towards completing all reviews in time for the General Chapter in May 2020.
Thank you to all who have assisted with the work of the IHC until now, and we are looking forward to completing our first round of reviews. These findings will be used to encourage and facilitate collaboration across Cabrini health missions around the world.
Dr Michael Walsh
Chair, Cabrini International Health Commission.
From left: Prof. Mario Raviglione, Phesheya Vilakati, Bongani, Khumalo, Sr. Diane Dallemolle, Zodwa Vilakati, Sarah Chuma, Sharon Singleton, Dr. Giuseppi Tansini, Pius Mamba, Sr. Laura Baldini.