Measuring and monitoring quality of care to improve maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health services

Overview

Regular measurement and monitoring of quality of care are essential for improving health services and achieving better health outcomes. High-quality data from these processes can help identify quality gaps and track improvements aimed at ensuring that patients receive care that is safe, effective, people-centered, timely, efficient, and well-integrated.

This WHO technical guide focuses primarily on maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and provides practical guidance on how to select, track and analyze quality of care indicators to guide healthcare improvement. It also outlines key system-level interventions necessary to enable effective measurement, including how to assess and strengthen health information systems to measure and monitor prioritized quality of care indicators, how to assess and improve data quality to strengthen quality improvement results and stakeholder trust, and some approaches to strengthening quality improvement measurement capacity of key actors.

Designed for frontline health workers, program managers, and policymakers, this guide serves as a valuable resource for integrating quality of care measurement into routine health service delivery and data systems. It includes real-world examples from various countries, demonstrating how robust measurement and monitoring can lead to tangible improvements in health services and outcomes.