Phase II: Indicators to monitor social, political and economic determinants of maternal health and survival

Dates

The public comment period is now closed.

Purpose

The purpose of this public comment period is to capture input from stakeholders with knowledge and interest in maternal health measurement on proposed metrics to monitor key social, political and economic determinants of maternal health and survival outlined in the “Strategies toward ending preventable maternal mortality (EPMM)” report. The EPMM Strategies report was released in 2015 by the World Health Organization to support improvements in maternal health and survival in the SDG period (2015 – 2030).

Since May 2015, the EPMM Working Group has been developing a comprehensive monitoring framework to track progress toward achieving the priority recommendations laid out in the EPMM Strategies report.  Phase I of the process identified a core set of maternal health metrics for proximal determinants of maternal death (directly linked to causes of death) which fed into the development of the Indicator and Monitoring Framework for the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s, and Adolescent’s Health.

In Phase II, an intensive consultation process has been conducted over the last six months to identify, evaluate, and prioritize  indicators for addressing distal determinants of maternal health and survival reflected in the 11 key themes outlined in the EPMM Strategies report.

This request for public comment seeks to validate the importance to stakeholders of the proposed indicators for monitoring key distal determinants of maternal health and survival at global and national levels, which are intended to drive improvement in these areas.

For the purposes of this activity, “Important” is defined as follows:

  • Indicator resonates, and is valuable to decision makers and stakeholders
  • Indicator “makes a difference” for improving maternal health and survival across countries and contexts

The public comment period will be followed by an in-person consensus meeting in mid-September to finalize the recommendation of a core set of EPMM Phase II indicators to monitor distal determinants of maternal health and survival, along with a secondary list of metrics in these key thematic areas that stakeholders feel are important but still need further research and development before they can be measured and tracked at global and national levels.

Background

The methodology for developing the EPMM Phase II indicators is based on an iterative process that has included an extensive indicator mapping exercise and multiple rounds of expert review and consultation aimed at reaching consensus on the strongest indicators, as scored according to a set of predetermined selection criteria, for each of the 11 key themes from the EPMM Strategies report.  The expected outcome is a recommended core set of EPMM Phase II indicators and a secondary list of indicators that participants in the process have deemed important for maternal health and survival, but in need of further development. The indicators developed in Phase II will be passed on to the WHO’s recently-formed Mother Newborn Information for Tracking Outcomes and Results (MoNITOR) expert advisory group. The ultimate goal of this effort is to support the Indicator Framework for the Global Strategy – particularly in its Thrive and Transform agenda – and the Sustainable Development Goals, and to complement other global monitoring efforts.

Click here to read more about the development of the EPMM Strategies report and the development of a comprehensive monitoring framework to track progress toward achieving its priority recommendations for improving maternal health and survival to support the realization of the UN Secretary General’s Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s, and Adolescent’s Health (2016-2030).