Strategic Areas

Child Survival

QAP is assisting countries to implement a child healthcare model that spans the continuum of care from the community to hospitals, is driven by evidence-based standards, and is focused on the most common conditions that cause morbidity and mortality. We are applying rapid quality improvement methods and the collaborative learning approach to improve the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) at primary care and hospital levels and the care of sick children with serious infections and severe malnutrition.

• QAP has launched an international collaborative aimed at improving hospital care of sick children with serious infections and severe malnutrition through implementation of the evidence-based case management guidelines and ongoing quality improvement activities. The Pediatric Hospital Improvement Collaborative involves teams in 19 hospitals in Eritrea, 6 hospitals in Nicaragua, and 14 hospitals in Niger. Planning is underway to add teams in Guatemala and Malawi.
  
• In Eritrea, QAP is working with the Ministry of Health to improve and sustain IMCI at PHC facilities by integrating QA within the IMCI program and improving the quality monitoring and problem solving skills of supervisors for IMCI. Routine monitoring of quality indicators for IMCI by supervisors and primary health care facilities has been initiated in 3 zones.
  
• In Nicaragua, QAP is working with UNICEF and PAHO to reduce perinatal mortality at the hospital level in 10 hospitals throughout the country.
  
• QAP is working closely with the World Health Organization (WHO) on several child health technical working groups and initiatives, including improving pediatric care according to emergency triage, assessment, and treatment (ETAT) and the application of the WHO manual "Management of the Child with a Serious Infection or Severe Malnutrition: Guidelines for the First Referral Level in Developing Countries"
  
• In collaboration with the WHO Division of Child and Adolescent Health, QAP is developing a computer-based training CD-ROM on the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness in English and Spanish. The CD-ROM will be field tested with IMCI programs and private practitioners in 2004.
  
• For the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, QAP developed and field tested an assessment methodology and instruments for determining the quality of laboratory-based poliovirus containment activities.
  

Related QAP Publications:

• Assessing the Functionality of Job Aids in Supporting the Performance of IMCI Providers in Zambia (Operations Research Manual [ORM])
• Assessing Health Worker Performance of IMCI in Kenya (Case Study)
• A Comparison of Computer-Based and Standard Training in the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness in Uganda (ORM)
• Comparison of Methods for Assessing Quality of Health Worker Performance Related to Management of Ill Children: Malawi Field Study
• Compliance, Workload, and the Cost of Using the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness Algorithm in Niger
• Developing Job Aids to Increase Adherence to an Antibiotic Regimen in Children with Pneumonia in Niger
• The Global Polio Laboratory Network:  A Model for Good Laboratory Practice Development
• Impact of QA Methods on Compliance with the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness Algorithm in Niger (ORM)
• The Impact of Self-Assessment with Peer Feedback in Health Provider Performance in Mali (ORM)
• Improving Adherence to Cotrimoxazole for the Treatment of Childhood Pneumonia in Niger
• (Re)Designing the System of Care for Neonates Suffering from Respiratory Distress
• Strengthening the Capacity of African Institutions for Improving the Quality of Nutrition Programs:  Final Report of the Greater Horn of Africa Initiative
• Using Problem-Solving Teams to Improve Compliance with IMCI Guidelines in Kenya