Spotlight on Data for Decision Making

While many countries have achieved reductions in maternal, newborn and child morbidity and mortality, some are still not on track to achieve their Sustainable Development Goals, and persistent sub-national inequities remain. A look at coverage levels for high-impact reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) interventions across regions and at the national level misses differences by socio-economic status, ethnic group, and rural versus urban location.

#DataforHealth are necessary to target health system performance gaps and drive equitable improvements in RMNCH care for all. Program planners and frontline health workers need actionable health data to target service improvement efforts where they are needed most.

MCSP works with countries to strengthen the RMNCH content and functioning of their health information systems, and promotes analysis, visualization and use of routine RMNCH data by district health managers and facility and community health workers. RMNCH health goals cannot be achieved without evidence-based decisions, which is why global and country metrics efforts must deepen the connection between robust measurement and improved health outcomes.

With a presence in over 32 countries, MCSP bridges country to global measurement and data use efforts, grounding global discussions in country needs and translating global evidence and resources for efficient uptake at country level.

Empowering health care providers to use improved metrics & methodologies to collect and visualize data is a critical step toward improving health outcomes.

Strategic investments are needed to ensure priority data elements and indicators are captured and used in national Health Management Information Systems.

What gets measured get done. The metrics that go into any system tracking RMNCH information send a signal to health care workers and others that these are our priorities.”

— Barbara Rawlins, MCSP Monitoring & Evaluation Team Lead Team Lead

Hear global experts share their experiences in promoting better measurement and data use at the global and country levels.

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See how access to timely and high-quality data allow health workers and managers to make evidence-based decisions.

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Listen to experts discuss measurement and data use for action in RMNCH.

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