Initiative to strengthen maternal and child care in a group of Colombian municipalities

Objective: to present the results of a joint initiative to improve the quality of maternal and child health care in 36 Colombian municipalities.

Methodology: the main results of a public health initiative implemented between 2012 and 2015 in 36 municipalities are included. Its approach was systemic and included four components:

• Development and monitoring of continuous quality improvement plans for maternal and child health services based on local needs, involving key municipal/departmental stakeholders.

• Indirect evaluation of the quality of services with review of medical records.

• Training, technical assistance and accompaniment.

• Periodic feedback of results to health system institutions.

Results: this initiative stimulated the improvement of the quality of health care for the mother-child binomial in the participating municipalities and possibly had an impact on the reduction of the maternal mortality rate in some territories. Successes and problems in the management of the health services of the participating institutions are documented.

Discussion: despite territorial differences and multiple internal and external factors that affect the quality of services, the proposed approach can be implemented in territories with diverse contexts. The changes, positive in most of the territories, showed that the success and sustainability of the actions are possible even in complex environments, but it requires rigorous application of the proposed methodology and creativity to formulate local solutions.

See complete research