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Lessons for health program monitoring and evaluation in a low resource setting

AUTHORS

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Emma Field
1 Master of Applied Epidemiology, Epidemiologist *

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Mafu Vila
2 Diploma in Health Service Management, Health Information Officer

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Laina Runk
3 Master of International Public Health, Data Manager

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Fiona Mactaggart
4 Master of the Control of Infectious Diseases, Monitoring and Evaluation Manager

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Alexander Rosewell
5 PhD, Senior Lecturer

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Sally Nathan
6 PhD, Senior Lecturer

AFFILIATIONS

1 Menzies School of Health Research, Spring Hill QLD 4000, Australia; Abt Associates, Level 2, 5 Gardner Close Milton, Brisbane, QLD 4064, Australia; and UNSW Australia, Botany Street UNSW Kensington Campus, Australia

2 Abt Associates, Papua New Guinea Governance Facility, Level 1, Ravalian Haus, Harbour City, Port Moresby, P. O. Box 591, Waterfront 125, National Capital District, Papua New Guinea

3, 4 Abt Associates, Level 2, 5 Gardner Close Milton, Brisbane, QLD 4064, Australia

5, 6 UNSW Australia, Botany Street UNSW Kensington Campus, Australia

ACCEPTED: 8 June 2018


Now published, see the full article go to

Early Abstract:

There are numerous guidelines that outline best practices for health program monitoring and evaluation (M&E). However health programs are often implemented in less than ideal circumstances where these best practices may not be resourced or feasible. This paper describes how M&E has been conducted for a health service delivery improvement program in remote Papua New Guinea and outlines lessons learned. The lessons were: integrate M&E into every aspect of the program; strengthen existing health information data; link primary data collection with existing program activities; conduct regular monitoring and feedback for early identification of implementation issues; involve the program team in evaluation; and communicate M&E data through multiple mediums to stakeholders. These lessons could be applied to other health programs implemented in low resource settings.