Improve – Improving Measurement and Program Design

Overall Aim

High-quality evidence on mortality, morbidity, intervention coverage, and the impact of scaling up interventions is necessary for program planning, prioritization, accountability, and monitoring and evaluation. The Improving Measurement and Program Design project (IMPROVE) aims to improve evidence, estimates, and programming for maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition. The project builds on the previous work of the Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group (CHERG), the Maternal and Child Epidemiology Estimation project, the Improving Coverage Measurement Project, and the Lives Saved Tool (LiST). 

Project Impact

By providing the most updated estimates of the causes and determinants of neonatal, child and adolescent deaths, improving the quality and availability of MNCAH&N intervention coverage estimates, and continuing to maintain and update the LiST, the Improve project benefits the global health community, academics, donors and local governments by equipping them with the evidence-base necessary to focus resources as part of their planning processes. The project establishes information systems, tools, data-gathering and evidence-sharing platforms to support the MNCAH&N agenda. The more distal beneficiaries of this investment are the women and children in low- and middle-income countries who will have better health outcomes as a result of improved programming, ultimately leading to economic and social benefits extending to the larger community.

Funding

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation