Accredited or not: Quality of Community Based Health Services sponsored by An International Aid for 20 Years in Six Governorates, Egypt

Background: Poor and middle income population in Egypt usually prefers community based health facilities as they provide the services in affordable cost. Usually these facilities are dependant financially on the charity and international fund. The present study focused on selected community based health facilities which are sponsored by an international non governmental organization working in six governorates in Egypt since more than 20 years. Objectives: to explore the quality of the provided health services among the observed health facilities. Methodology: 48 community based heath facilities from six governorates in Egypt were subjected to accreditation tools to evaluate the quality of health services. Results: All the studied health facilities didn't meet any of the patient's rights except for family planning counseling. Regarding patient's care it was observed that about 77.5% of the observed health facilities were reasonably met the criteria of quality. It was noted that the criteria of quality of antenatal care were fully met either in the first clinical visit or at the periodic clinical visits in about 83% of the observed health facilities. Regarding hypertension and Diabetes mellitus it was observed that quality was unaccepted in all observed health facilities. It was found that IMCI and family planning were fully met all the criteria of quality in about 85% of the observed health facilities. The environmental safety was partially met the criteria of quality in only about 48% of the observed health facilities. The infection control practices, housekeeping, information management, management of the facility and quality improvement program were not met any of the criteria of quality. Conclusion: After 20 years of international fund all the observed health facilities were not meet the full criteria of accreditation of quality of health services. Recommendation: Quality assurance should be ensured in community based health facilities funded by international aid.