Administration in the Health District

Behind the scenes of any well functioning health service or health programme is the machinery of an efficient administrative system. No organisation or management team works effectively without the nuts and bolts of an administrative system that holds the various activities together. International experience has shown that some of the main problems in the delivery of effective PHC include problems of: administration and modifying existing administration structures logistics and supply transportation maintenance capacity delays in the release of funds and slowness in approval of transfers of staff. But what do we mean by health administration? If it is important, do we pay enough attention to it? How can health districts develop strategies for improving their administrative efficiency? While there has been a focus on reorientating health workers and programme managers towards Primary Health Care, has the development of administrative staff been adequate? This Kwik Skwiz is designed to categorise the various tasks and functions of district health administration which can be described as a collection of processes, which are enabling and supportive to the delivery of health care. It also provides District Health Management Teams with a way for improving effective district administration. All public sectors have an administration section in their departments. Typically, the administration section is staffed by certain categories of staff such as administrative officers, accounting officers, provisioning officers, secretaries and clerks. Although the administration section is responsible for carrying out certain specific administrative tasks, it should be remembered that all categories of health workers have their own administrative duties, whether it is filing, writing reports or filling in a transport requisition form. However, this document will concentrate on the functions and activities that are typically carried out by the Administration Section of a health district.