The health of women and children are critical for global development. However, information and data on measuring countries’ progress are limited given the variety of methodological challenges of measuring care around the time of birth, when most maternal and neonatal deaths and morbidities occur.

In 2015, the World Health Organization launched Mother and Newborn Information for Tracking Outcomes and Results (MoNITOR), a technical advisory group to WHO. The vision of MoNITOR is to facilitate measurement, align initiatives, and provide technical guidance to WHO. Ultimately, MoNITOR will support WHO to ensure harmonized guidance, messages, and tools so that countries can collect useful data to track progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. MoNITOR is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.