Healthcare quality-improvement and measurement strategies and its challenges ahead

Extract

With the emerging global health priorities, it’s time to think fresh ways for applying the quality-improvement and measurement in various dimensions. Specifically, with the rapid growing global health priorities both the improvement and measurement mechanisms can play a vital role in articulating the positive impact that it can stimulate on health systems that are moving towards Universal Health Care [1].

In this particular issue, Patrick Opiyo Owili et al. [2] addressed the quality of antenatal care issues in the sub-Saharan Africa. Exploring the determinants of quality of antenatal care and lack of basic facilities in sub-Saharan Africa, the authors identified that lack of basic equipment and amenities compromised on quality of antenatal care in six African countries. It is most likely to be true in other sub-Saharan Africa countries regardless of the health conditions. However, the quality and measurement reform agenda has also become more global and the question remains how policy actions and investment on facility and providers will enable provision of quality services in Low- and middle-income countries. World Health Organisation has been focusing on the antenatal care guideline and the 2015 Millennium Development Goals score card report indicated significant improvements in child survival and maternal health across all five regions [3]. However, there are still unequal and fragmented progress across regions, particularly in low and middle-income countries [4, 5].