Data Quality Review For Universal Health Coverage - Service Coverage Index In The رسالة ماجستير West Bank: The Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn And Child Health

Abstract

Background: In 2015, the United Nation Member States adopted the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development. The third goal in the Sustainable Development Goals is “Good Health and Well Being” and the related indicator of interest to our study is the sub-indicator # 3.8.1 that measures the coverage of essential health services. As a measure for that subindicator, the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Service Coverage Index (SCI) was created, which includes 14 tracer indicators on which data is periodically collected on a country-bycountry basis. The essential health service category that has been considered in this research is Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (RMNCH), and the tracer indicators for this category are: (1) family planning, (2) pregnancy and childbirth care, and (3) child immunization. Which complies with ninth priority in the Palestinian national policy agenda “Quality Health Care for All”(The Palestinian Prime Minister Office, 2016). Objectives: Our study aims to investigate the quality of the available electronic data and data resources in RMNCH in Palestine, conduct the data quality review domains in a scientific way, measure the RMNCH tracer indicators from the available electronic data, and to assess the challenges and barriers for establishing a Palestinian UHC – SCI for the RMNCH category. This study will establish the foundation for policy and decision makers to enhance the data quality of the RMNCH tracer indicators based on scientific methodology and pave the way to assess and calculate the other UHC-SCI indicators. Methods: A retrospective Data quality review of the electronic data in the Palestinian Ministry of Health - Health Management Information Systems was undertaken. Data Quality VII domains: (1) completeness and timeliness of reporting, (2) internal consistency of reported data, (3) external consistency of reported data, and (4) external consistency with population data were assessed using the WHO Data Quality Review (DQR) toolkit. In addition, electronic data was collected from service providers to calculate the tracer indicators of the RMNCH category toward constructing a UHC-SCI in Palestine. Results: Our study reported important results regarding the data quality of the RMNCH. The completeness and timeliness of reporting was 100% for the three tracer indicators; family planning, pregnancy and childbirth care, and child immunization. Regarding the internal consistency over time, it was highly consistent for the child immunization tracer indicator. However, family planning and pregnancy and childbirth care showed a poor internal consistency and less coverage over time with the mean of the three preceding years. Regarding the external consistency of reported data, we were unable to assess due to a lack of needed data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics to compare it with the health management information systems data in the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MOH). Finally, the external consistency with population data showed a good agreement with the United Nations projections. Conclusions: Family planning, pregnancy, childbirth care tracer indicators need more focus and enhancements and periodic assessments need to be conducted to enhance services at the national level. Involving all stakeholders in a national action plan will fill the gaps in capturing indicators on these programs. VIII The UHC SCI can be measured and assessed using the WHO DQR toolkit. However, the Palestinian MOH should place a greater emphasis on establishing a good Palestinian UHC SCI and reach the Sustainable Development Goal of “Good Health and Well Being