Evaluation and Learning for the Maternal Health Quality of Care Strategy in India: Phase I Report
Evidence | Publications

Evaluation and Learning for the Maternal Health Quality of Care Strategy in India: Phase I Report

Published: Apr 30, 2018
Publisher: Cambridge, MA: Mathematica Policy Research
Global Health and Nutrition
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Authors

So O'Neil

Divya Vohra

Shamama Siddiqui

Key Findings

Key Findings:

  • Defined quality assurance (QA) standards in maternal health care provide a uniform tool to help facilities achieve quality improvements; a culture of mentorship and continuous QA and quality improvement helps to maintain quality.
  • Community accountability mechanisms have gained traction in some areas, but best practices for ensuring institutional responsiveness to community-led monitoring and planning efforts are still emerging.
  • Identifying and translating key elements of emerging maternal health quality of care program models and their relevance to other contexts are necessary steps to bringing these programs to a wider audience.
  • Aligning maternal health quality activities with priorities of the Indian government and other key decision makers can promote their engagement and uptake of activities. However, some circumstances may require a separate entity to drive catalytic change.
This report presents findings from evaluation and learning activities conducted during Phase 1 (June 2015 through March 2017) of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s maternal health quality of care strategy (2015–2019) in India, which aims to catalyze a shift in focus within the maternal health community from increasing access to maternal health services to improving the quality of maternal health care. The report documents progress to date under each of the strategy’s three substrategies (supply, demand, and advocacy), assesses overall progress toward targeted outcomes, and highlights key learnings from Phase 1 implementation efforts and their implications for the strategy and the broader field moving forward. The results draw on multiple data sources (strategy and grant documents, key informant interviews, and grantee site visits), and will serve as a starting point for assessing further progress in the remaining years of the strategy.

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