Measuring program progress and impact are possibly the most difficult and neglected areas of program management. The monitoring and evaluation of maternal and newborn health programs presents additional challenges. These challenges arise, not only because two outcomes, need to be measured, but because of many other factors that include, but are not limited to, difficulties of measuring mortality and morbidity and a lack of experience with process indicators. More information about the challenges of monitoring and evaluating maternal and newborn health status can be found in the "Compendium of Indicators for Evaluating Reproductive Health Programs," (Measure Evaluation, forthcoming).
Despite these challenges, a large number of projects and programs have, nevertheless, gained considerable experience monitoring and evaluating maternal and newborn health status. In order to disseminate the experience of these organisations to a wider audience, MEASURE Evaluation have brought together over 20 tools in a " Compendium of tools for monitoring and evaluating maternal and newborn health status."
The compendium includes a variety of population- and facility-based assessment tools that use both qualitative and quantitative approaches and that can be used in at different levels of the health system.
Each tool meets the following four criteria:
Each of the abstracts included here is linked to an electronic version of the tool that can be downloaded. You can also e-mail MEASURE Evaluation (measure@unc.edu) for an electronic or paper copy of a tool.
Groups interested in submitting their tools for possible inclusion on this Web site should contact Silvia Alayon at MEASURE Evaluation
Tel: (301) 572 0200, Fax: (301) 572 0999; e-mail: salayon@macroint.com