Monitoring birth preparedness and complication readiness : tools and indicators for maternal and newborn health -- [toolkit]

Part 1 explains the background to and rationale for the index; presents the set of indicators for measuring BP/CR at six levels (the individual woman, her family [husband/partner], the community, the health facility, the provider, and the policymaker); suggests sources of data; and provides recommendations for scoring the indicators. Parts 2 and 3 include the data collection instruments needed to obtain the information for each set of indicators. Part 2 focuses on the evaluation of programs designed to create demand for skilled attendance at birth by strengthening BP/CR among women, their families, and the community. This section includes a prototype safe motherhood questionnaire for a population-based survey, guides for the researcher and the interviewer, and sampling considerations specific to safe motherhood surveys. Part 3 draws heavily on existing approaches proposed by the World Health Organization and others to audit clinical facilities and measure the knowledge and skills of providers and uses the results to establish a set of indicators comprising the BP/CR Index. This part also provides a comprehensive set of tools for deriving these indicators and tracking progress. Full use of the approach requires substantial financial and technical resources that are often available only through well-funded programs. However, organizations with more limited resources may adapt some of the instruments to their own purposes and budgets.