Nesting a project nutrition monitoring system within a public health network: experiences from Alive & Thrive Viet Nam (632.17)
Tóm tắt
Alive & Thrive (A&T), in partnership with the Government of Viet Nam, is among the first to manage a network of 780 franchises that provide good‐quality infant and young child nutrition counseling. This paper describes our experience in nesting the A&T project monitoring into the public health system and using monitoring data to strengthen franchise performance. Paper based forms are filled at village and commune level. Data are entered into excel forms at the district level, aggregated at the province level and submitted upwards to regional and national levels. The system has a 99% reporting rate. Training and regular supportive supervision ensure data quality. Data are analyzed on a monthly basis and shared back down the chain in user‐friendly formats to enable management decisions. Franchises with low performance receive targeted assistance on demand generation and quality improvement. High‐performing franchises receive performance‐based awards. Data reveal that services reach almost 2/3 of children 0‐23 months in the catchment areas. August 2013, a total of 95,000 monthly contacts was provided through the network with 73% of contacts being with repeat clients. A robust program monitoring can function well within a public health system, when the system is streamlined and user‐friendly; and its findings are shared back in a timely manner to facilitate evidence‐based decision making to improve quality.