5149.0: Wednesday, November 15, 2000 - Board 1

Abstract #13787

A New Index of Program Effort to Improve Maternal and Neonatal Health: 51 Country Results

John A. Ross, PhD, The Futures Group, 80 Glastonbury Blvd, Glastonbury, CT 06033, 860 633 3501, J.Ross@tfgi.com

This paper is the first report on the new Maternal and Neonatal Program Effort Index (MNPI), which in the last 18 months has been developed and applied to national programs in 51 developing countries. The programs in question are those devoted to the reduction of maternal mortality and morbidity and to the improvement of maternal and neonatal health. The index measures inputs (efforts) rather than outputs, and produces a baseline measure for 13 features of effort, each based upon questionnaire replies to several specific items. Respondents rate both this year and three years ago on each item, giving a first estimate of change; by this method a repetition of the instrument in 2002 will afford a second fix on the 1999 results. The MNPI will be useful along with the previously established FPE (family planning effort scores originally developed by Lapham and Mauldin) and a new index, the API, for AIDS Program Effort in a large set of countries. The MNPI covers staffing, access to services by pregnant women, prenatal and delivery care, referral systems, postpartum and postabortion family planning, policies, resources, use of media, training, and evaluation. Ratings on these give the current picture, and serve as baselines to gauge later improvements in each country. They give the first international and regional comparisons with standard measures, taken at one point in time, for program inputs separate from outputs.

Learning Objectives: Participants will learn of a new index to measure national program efforts to reduce maternal mortality and improve maternal and neonatal health. Thirteen features of program effort are measured, each according to ratings on several specific items. Comparative results for 51 countries will be presented, based upon questionnaire replies for each country. The resulting indices will serve as baselines for improvements in each country, and will provide the first standard, cross-national measures to compare program efforts by country and region

Keywords: Maternal Health,

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

The 128th Annual Meeting of APHA