How to Measure the Quality of Facility-based Labor and Delivery Care in Sub-Saharan Africa

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By: Vandana Tripathi, Deputy Director, Fistula Care Plus, EngenderHealth

Yesterday, quality measures for maternal health were published in PLoS ONE in an attempt to fill the need for better definitions and tools for measuring and improving quality in labor and delivery (L&D) care. Over the past decade, we have seen a profound shift in the use of maternal health services. Now, more than ever, women are delivering in health facilities, with an estimated 64% of women in developing countries and 51% of women in the 69 poorest countries giving birth in facilities in 2012. Studies have shown that maternal mortality can stagnate even as facility deliveries increase rapidly, most likely due to poor quality of care. It is most crucial to improve information about the quality of L&D care. In order to fill this need, we surveyed global maternal and newborn care experts to build a consensus on the dimensions of quality of care in the intrapartum and immediate postpartum period… read more

Putting the Pieces Together: An Appreciative Model for Developing a Theory of Change

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By: Jonathan Jones, Senior Evaluation Specialist, EnCompass LLC; Lyn Messner, Program Manager/Technical Assistance and Evaluation, EnCompass LLC

Seven grantees, 13 states, three levels of government and one mission: to increase accountability for maternal health in Nigeria, which has one of the world’s highest maternal mortality ratios. This presented a complex, multi-faceted context for establishing a theory of change to guide an evaluation of a grant portfolio in Nigeria… read more