title: Effective Resource Management toward Controlling Malaria
Creators: name: Mansoury, Bijan
Publisher: name: University of Liverpool Repository
Year: 2525

description: Effective Resource Management toward Controlling Malaria Abstract In the year 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported an estimated 216 million cases of malaria around the world, mostly concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the same year, the WHO reported that the global community spent around 2.7 billion US dollars to tackle and control this disease. In contrast, the WHO reported a budget of 100 million US dollars in the year 2000 and reported 262 million cases of malaria in the same year. Over these 16 years, the budget for malaria increased by over 2600% with malaria cases showing a minor improvement of around 20% when comparing it with the resources that have been devoted to fight this disease. This disproportionality of spending relative to outcomes suggests that resources allocated to eradicate/control malaria are not being used efficiently and effectively. Consequently, this thesis explores the process of resource management within the fight against malaria, with a focus within my organization, a public health research and development institution (PHRDI). The main interests of this study are identified as follows: 1) The analysis and evaluation of processes regarding resource planning and management with regards to malaria within PHRDI; 2) Identification of areas that require improvement to ensure that the resources allocation process becomes more efficient; and 3) Propose and implement changes in this process through action research to ensure that my department becomes more efficient. A qualitative research study was conducted, and the data was collected through interviews and focus group discussions from participants, both internal and external to my organization, who are directly involved in the management of resources allocated to malaria. This research approach led to the identification of three key issues regarding resource management practices within my organization, including: 1) continuous focus on the status quo, which fails to foster creativity and innovation in the fight against malaria; 2) lack of effective communication amongst internal and external stakeholders; 3) complexity of the contracting process which discourages many small and local organizations from responding to our solicitations. The implications of these key issues were carefully analysed through the literature review and discussions with research participants in a focus group setting. As a result, a number of remedies and recommendations have been proposed and implemented through the application of action research cycles. The first one is the development of an agile project timeline that is result-driven in an effort to ensure that we actively reflect on the impact of the work and improve as we go. The second is the use of SharePoint toolkit to improve communication. The final change is the formation of a sound organizational structure that is in line with the organization’s up to date workload and resources. Although these changes are being implemented, there has not been enough time to observe their overall long-term impact. However, the preliminary results of the proposed changed within my organization are positive, and a number of pilot projects have been completed within a shorter timeline and at a lower cost compared to previous years.