Monitoring & Evaluation

The Emergence of Hospital Accreditation Programs in East Africa: Lessons from Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania

The objective of this manuscript was to examine existing hospital accreditation systems in three East African countries (Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania), assess attitudes and opinions of key stakeholders regarding hospital accreditation systems in the region, and identify lessons regarding sustainable and effective implementation of hospital accreditation systems in resource-limited countries. [from abstract]

Monitoring the ability to deliver care in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review of health facility Assessment Tools

Health facilities assessments are an essential instrument for health system strengthening in low- and middle-income countries. Despite the valuable role of these assessments, there are currently no minimum standards or frameworks for these tools. [from abstract]

Systems Approach to Monitoring and Evaluation Guides Scale Up of the Standard Days Method of Family Planning in Rwanda

After providing a brief introduction about the outcomes of the pilot phase as well as goals and outcomes of national scale up, this article provides lessons learned about how to successfully scale up health interventions. [from introduction]

Connecting People to Improve Monitoring and Evaluation of Global Health Programs

This document examines ways in which three of these communities of practice supported by MEASURE Evaluation have worked to close knowledge gaps and increase engagement among M&E practitioners. These case studies provide an opportunity to examine networks operating to improve health information systems at the national, regional, and global levels. [from introduction]

Health Sector Strategy and Economic Development in Cameroon: History, Challenges and Perspectives

There are complex and multisectoral interdependent relationships between health systems
and economic development in Cameroon that have been barely described in literature. Having analyzed these challenges, the author of this capstone proposes many policy alternatives to the Ministry of Public Health.

Insights from Community Case Management Data in Six Sub-Saharan African Countries

This study analyzed monitoring data from community case management (CCM) programs supported by the International Rescue Committee, covering over 2 million treatments provided from 2004 to 2011 in six countries by 12,181 community health workers to generate evidence on how to implement CCM. [adapted from abstract]

Comparison of Methods for Assessing Quality of Care for Community Case Management of Sick Children: An Application with Community Health Workers in Malawi

As part of an assessment of quality of community case management services in Malawi, this report examines the bias associated with measuring community health worker performance by using register review, case scenarios, and direct observation only methods compared with direct observation with re-examination by a higher-level clinician, and discusses the relative strengths and weaknesses of the four assessment methods in the Malawi context. [adapted from author]

Framework for Outcome-Level Evaluation of in-Service Training of Health Care Workers

This paper presents the methods and results of a project to develop an outcome-focused training evaluation framework that links health care worker training to improved health outcomes. [adapted from abstract]

Performance-Based Financing as a Health System Reform: Mapping the Key Dimensions for Monitoring and Evaluation

This paper presents a framework for assessing the interactions between performance-based financing (meaning performance-based incentives are earned by service providers) and health systems, focusing on low and middle income countries in order to develop a framework for monitoring and evaluating health system reforms in general. [adapted from author]

Health Human Resources Minimum Data Set Guide: Text File Format

This guide was developed to assist organizations in developing health human resources databases that are consistent with national standards and that provide opportunities to make comparisons between jurisdictions and professions. The guide is not intended to provide the steps to build a database; rather, it introduces the standards to be used for collecting, processing and reporting health human resources data. [from introduction]

Establishing a Health Information Workforce: Innovation for Low- and Middle-Income Countries

This article describes the early outcomes, achievements, and challenges from an initiative that hired university graduates without training in health information and provided on-the-job training and mentoring to create a new cadre of health worker in order to address the shortage of health information personnel within Botswana. [adapted from abstract]

Novel Method of Assessing Quality of Postgraduate Psychiatry Training: Experiences from a Large Training Programme

This article reports on a comprehensive assessment of the quality of training at a large postgraduate psychiatry training institute using non-anonymised face-to-face interviews with trainees and their trainers, which successfully elicited strengths and weakness of the program and may well provide important information to allow for targeted improvement of health training in general. [adapted from abstract]

Quality Indicators for Continuous Monitoring to Improve Maternal and Infant Health in Maternity Departments: A Modified Delphi Survey of an International Multidisciplinary Panel

This article describes a modified Delphi method used to identify a set of indicators for continuously monitoring the quality of maternity care by healthcare professionals. [from abstract]

Cost-Effectiveness Analyses of Training: A Manger's Guide

This article has been written as a guide for program managers who want to recognize and support high quality cost-effetiveness analysis (CEA) of training. It focuses on the approaches and challenges associated with conducting CEA of training in the context of program implementation or rapid expansion of programs. [from author]

World Health Statistics 2013

This is the World Health Organization’s annual compilation of health-related data for its 194 member states, and includes a summary of the progress made towards achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals and associated targets. This year, it also includes highlight summaries on the topics of reducing the gaps between the world’s most-advantaged and least-advantaged countries, and on current trends in official development assistance for health. It also includes the 2013 Indicator Compendium. [from publisher]

How Do Health Workers Perceive and Practice Monitoring and Evaluation of Malaria Control Interventions in South-East Nigeria?

The study was carried out to determine the knowledge, perception, and practice of malaria monitoring and evaluation among selected health staff, and to identify related socio-demographic factors, including cadre of staff. [from abstract]

Tracking University Graduates in the Workforce: Information to Improve Education and Health Systems in Tanzania

The authors discuss the overlooked but significant role of universities in collecting, managing, and using human resources data in Tanzania and in other countries struggling to build their health workforce. They present options for Tanzania which are of relevance to other countries developing information systems for human resources for health. [from publisher]

Human Resources Collaborative: Improving Maternal and Child Care in Niger

This report details the results and impact of a human resources for health quality improvement intervention in Niger. The approach focused on teaching evidence-based human resources interventions that will improve health outcomes. [adapted from author]

Community-Based Monitoring Programs in the Health Sector: A Literature Review

The purpose of this paper is to survey the literature on community monitoring projects that have attempted to improve health sector governance by promoting greater community involvement in monitoring and oversight of health service providers, to describe common features and shared challenges that these projects face, to identify existing gaps in knowledge and practice, and serve as an input to a broader discussion of the prospects for incorporation of community-based accountability mechanisms in performance-based incentive programs. [adapted from introduction]

Introduction to Monitoring and Evaluation of Human Resources for Health

This free online course provides a basic introduction to monitoring and evaluation concepts and how they apply to the field of human resources for health to inform evidence-based planning and decision-making. [from publisher]

MHealth4CBS in South Africa: A Review of the Role of Mobile Phone Technology for Monitoring and Evaluation of Community-Based Health Services

This study sought to understand what the field of mHealth had to offer, to explore how mHealth is implemented in practice and to use these two sources of information to reflect on the lessons and implications for implementing mHealth at scale for monitoring and evaluation of community based services and community health workers. [adapted from summary]

World Health Statistics 2012

This report is the World Health Organization’s annual compilation of health-related data for its 194 Member States1 and includes a summary of the progress made towards achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals and associated targets. This year, it also includes highlight summaries on the topics of noncommunicable diseases, universal health coverage and civil registration coverage. [from introduction]

Monitoring the Building Blocks of Health Systems: A Handbook of Indicators and Their Measurement Strategies

This monitoring and evaluation framework shows how health inputs and processes (e.g. health workforce) are reflected in outputs (e.g. available services) that are reflected in outcomes (e.g. coverage) and impact (morbidity and mortality). It addresses monitoring and evaluation needs for different users and multiple purposes and is structured around the WHO framework that describes health systems in terms of six core components: service delivery, health workforce, health information systems, access to essential medicines, financing, and leadership/governance. [adapted from author]

Barriers and Facilitators to Routine Outcome Measurement by Allied Health Professionals in Practice: A Systematic Review

This systematic review investigates what helps and hinders routine outcome measurement of allied health professionals practice. [from abstract]

THEnet’s Evaluation Framework for Socially Accountable Health Professional Education

This document allows medical schools in low-resource areas to get a sense of where they are on the road towards greater social accountability and in their ability to increase impact on health and health services. [adapted from author]

Evaluating the Quality of Care for Severe Pregnancy Complications: The WHO Near-Miss Approach for Maternal Health

This guide is intended for health-care workers, program managers and policy-makers who are responsible for the quality of maternal health care within a health-care facility or of the entire health system. It presents a standard approach for monitoring the implementation of critical interventions in maternal health care and proposes a systematic process for assessing the quality of care. In its entirety, the included methods and related processes constitute the WHO maternal near-miss approach. [from introduction]

Toward the Construction of Health Workforce Metrics for Latin America and the Caribbean

This paper describes an initiative to create a framework to analyze the field of human resources for health (HRH) in Latin America and the Caribbean, more specifically the development of a set of metrics and indicators to be used in monitoring HRH policies in the region. [adapted from author]

Human Resources for Health (HRH) Indicator Compendium

This compendium provides a list of published indicators on human resources for health (HRH) organized according to the results framework of the CapacityPlus project. The objective of this compendium is to provide a tool for HRH systems strengthening practitioners interested in monitoring HRH projects and programs.

Human Resources for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health: from Measurement and Planning to Performance for Improved Health Outcomes

This paper focuses on the collection and use of strategic information on human resources for health for decision making and performance monitoring to achieve the MDGs for maternal and child health. It collected and analyzed cross-nationally comparable data on HRH availability, distribution, roles and functions from new and existing sources, and information from country reviews of HRH interventions that are associated with positive impacts on health services delivery and population health outcomes. [from author]

How Health Systems Make Available Information on Service Providers: Experience in Seven Countries

This report reviews information systems that report on the quality or performance of providers of healthcare in seven countries to inform the use and further development of quality information systems. [from preface]