FRONTIERS PROJECT
Scaling Up Utilization of the Quality Assurance (QA) Checklist in India

Building on the positive results of a previous project, "Development of Quality Assurance in Reproductive Health Services in District Public Health Systems,"  FRONTIERS is working with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the state governments of Karnataka and Maharashtra to scale up the quality assurance program for district-level management.

Results of the previous project showed that the quality assurance model is easily integrated into district-level programs and significantly improves the quality of reproductive health services provided. A manual was developed under the project as an operational guide for the implementation of a quality assurance intervention at the district level. This manual is a tool to enable district-level managers to systematically monitor the quality of reproductive health services.

In this project, FRONTIERS provided technical assistance to scale up the quality assurance model in each of the 25 districts throughout the state of Gujarat. The training consisted of a one-day orientation for over 100 senior state-level officials, followed by several rounds of two-day training workshops for regional and district level health officers.  In addition, the project will develop software for analysis, feedback, and preparation of a management information system (MIS).  The monitoring & evaluation and documentation of QA activities will provide insight on the feasibility of implementation at the national level.

In collaboration with UNFPA, PATH, and EngenderHealth, the Population Council is currently developing an abridged version of the manual to be introduced in six additional states.

---

Location

Gujarat

Duration

May 2007–February 2008

Population Council researcher

M.E. Khan

Non-Council collaborators

EngenderHealth

PATH

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

Donor

US Agency for International Development

Publications/Resources
Council researchers' names appear in boldface type. 

2008
Khan, M.E., Anurag Mishra, Vivek Sharma, and Leila Caleb Varkey. "Development of a quality assurance procedure for reproductive health services for district public health systems: Implementation and scale-up in the state of Gujarat," FRONTIERS Final Report. Washington, DC: Population Council. (PDF, 560 KB)

2006
"Institutionalization of quality assurance in RH services at district level management in India," Asia and Near East Region OR Summary no. 7. (PDF)

"Scaling up of quality assurance measures in district level management in Gujarat State," Asia and Near East Region OR Summary no. 15. New Delhi: Population Council. (PDF)

Varkey, Leila Caleb, M.E. Khan, Dinesh Agarwal, and Vivek Sharma. District Quality Assurance Program for Reproductive Health Services: An Operational Manual. New Delhi: Population Council and UNFPA. (PDF)

---

Related Project

• Development of Quality Assurance in Reproductive Health Services in District Public Health System

See Also

• India
• General Quality of Care
• Reproductive Health
• FRONTIERS India
• FRONTIERS Quality of Care Improvement
• FRONTIERS Scaling Up
• FRONTIERS Utilization of Research Findings

---