Quality of Care

A global movement is underway to strengthen the quality of care (QoC) for mothers, newborns, and children. A number of quality improvement initiatives exist globally, however the uptake of the Pediatric QoC Standards by countries has been slow and pediatric representation and engagement in supporting the QoC Network remains limited. As the current focus of most countries in the QoC Network is on maternal and newborn QoC, the focus is at higher level facilities while the majority of pediatric cases are managed at the community and primary care facility level. There is a need for increased visibility of QoC for child health, global and country level engagement and coordination around QoC for child health, and examination of opportunities to extend the quality agenda to community health services.

This global momentum and need to enhance QoC for child health presents an opportunity for the Child Health Task Force to complement the efforts of the QoC Network in the advocacy for and implementation of of the Pediatric QoC Standards and to contribute to cross-initiative and cross-organization learning on improving QoC in maternal, newborn, and child health. Given the Task Force’s thematic leadership and the embedded focus on quality across many of the subgroups, the Child Health Task Force is well-positioned to add to and support the introduction and uptake of the Pediatric QoC Standards in countries.

Goal

To create a platform in the child health community to advocate for and provide targeted support to countries to improve QoC for children in QoC Network and non-Network countries where Task Force members are active.

Objectives

  • Understand current activities, opportunities, and define priority actions to advance pediatric QoC in countries.
  • Promote QoC for children through existing health and multi-sectoral platforms and champions at national level.
  • Engage, align, and collaborate with existing networks for QoC, such as the QoC Network, the Lancet Commission on High Quality Health Systems, and the Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP) Implementation and QoC groups.
  • Foster a culture of quality through cross-group collaboration and innovation within the Child Health Task Force.

Leadership

Chairs:

  • Anne Detjen, UNICEF
  • Patty Jodrey, USAID
  • Peter Waiswa, Makerere University

Related Documents:

Terms of Reference

Activities spreadsheet for partner collaboration

2020 End of Year Letter