Utilizing community health worker data for program management and evaluation: Systems for data quality assessments and baseline results from Rwanda

Tisha Mitsunaga; Bethany Hedt-Gauthier; Elias Ngizwenayo; Didi Bertrand Farmer; Adolphe Karamaga; Peter Drobac; Paulin Basinga; Lisa Hirschhorn; Fidele Ngabo; Cathy Mugeni

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.02.033

Utilizing community health worker data for program management and evaluation: Systems for data quality assessments and baseline results from Rwanda

Tisha Mitsunaga^*, Bethany Hedt-Gauthier, Elias Ngizwenayo, Didi Bertrand Farmer, Adolphe Karamaga, Peter Drobac, Paulin Basinga, Lisa Hirschhorn, Fidele Ngabo, Cathy Mugeni

^*Corresponding author for this work

Medical Social Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

20 Scopus citations

Abstract

Community health workers (CHWs) have and continue to play a pivotal role in health services delivery in many resource-constrained environments. The data routinely generated through these programs are increasingly relied upon for providing information for program management, evaluation and quality assurance. However, there are few published results on the quality of CHW-generated data, and what information exists suggests quality is low. An ongoing challenge is the lack of routine systems for CHW data quality assessments (DQAs). In this paper, we describe a system developed for CHW DQAs and results of the first formal assessment in southern Kayonza, Rwanda, May-June 2011. We discuss considerations for other programs interested in adopting such systems. While the results identified gaps in the current data quality, the assessment also identified opportunities for strengthening the data to ensure suitable levels of quality for use in management and evaluation.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	87-92
Number of pages	6
Journal	Social Science and Medicine
Volume	85
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.02.033
State	Published - May 2013

Funding

This work was supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (2009057), and is part of a larger impact evaluation being carried out by Partners In Health and Government of Rwanda partners. BHG was supported by the Harvard Medical School Department of Global Health and Social Medicine Research Core .

Keywords

Africa
Community case management
Community health worker
Data quality
LQAS
Lot quality assurance sampling
Rwanda

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Health(social science)
History and Philosophy of Science

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10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.02.033

Cite this

Mitsunaga, T., Hedt-Gauthier, B., Ngizwenayo, E., Farmer, D. B., Karamaga, A., Drobac, P., Basinga, P., Hirschhorn, L., Ngabo, F., & Mugeni, C. (2013). Utilizing community health worker data for program management and evaluation: Systems for data quality assessments and baseline results from Rwanda. Social Science and Medicine, 85, 87-92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.02.033

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title = "Utilizing community health worker data for program management and evaluation: Systems for data quality assessments and baseline results from Rwanda",

abstract = "Community health workers (CHWs) have and continue to play a pivotal role in health services delivery in many resource-constrained environments. The data routinely generated through these programs are increasingly relied upon for providing information for program management, evaluation and quality assurance. However, there are few published results on the quality of CHW-generated data, and what information exists suggests quality is low. An ongoing challenge is the lack of routine systems for CHW data quality assessments (DQAs). In this paper, we describe a system developed for CHW DQAs and results of the first formal assessment in southern Kayonza, Rwanda, May-June 2011. We discuss considerations for other programs interested in adopting such systems. While the results identified gaps in the current data quality, the assessment also identified opportunities for strengthening the data to ensure suitable levels of quality for use in management and evaluation.",

keywords = "Africa, Community case management, Community health worker, Data quality, LQAS, Lot quality assurance sampling, Rwanda",

author = "Tisha Mitsunaga and Bethany Hedt-Gauthier and Elias Ngizwenayo and Farmer, {Didi Bertrand} and Adolphe Karamaga and Peter Drobac and Paulin Basinga and Lisa Hirschhorn and Fidele Ngabo and Cathy Mugeni",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (2009057), and is part of a larger impact evaluation being carried out by Partners In Health and Government of Rwanda partners. BHG was supported by the Harvard Medical School Department of Global Health and Social Medicine Research Core . ",

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Mitsunaga, T, Hedt-Gauthier, B, Ngizwenayo, E, Farmer, DB, Karamaga, A, Drobac, P, Basinga, P, Hirschhorn, L, Ngabo, F & Mugeni, C 2013, 'Utilizing community health worker data for program management and evaluation: Systems for data quality assessments and baseline results from Rwanda', Social Science and Medicine, vol. 85, pp. 87-92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.02.033

TY - JOUR

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AU - Mitsunaga, Tisha

AU - Hedt-Gauthier, Bethany

AU - Ngizwenayo, Elias

AU - Farmer, Didi Bertrand

AU - Karamaga, Adolphe

AU - Drobac, Peter

AU - Basinga, Paulin

AU - Hirschhorn, Lisa

AU - Ngabo, Fidele

AU - Mugeni, Cathy

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (2009057), and is part of a larger impact evaluation being carried out by Partners In Health and Government of Rwanda partners. BHG was supported by the Harvard Medical School Department of Global Health and Social Medicine Research Core .

PY - 2013/5

Y1 - 2013/5

N2 - Community health workers (CHWs) have and continue to play a pivotal role in health services delivery in many resource-constrained environments. The data routinely generated through these programs are increasingly relied upon for providing information for program management, evaluation and quality assurance. However, there are few published results on the quality of CHW-generated data, and what information exists suggests quality is low. An ongoing challenge is the lack of routine systems for CHW data quality assessments (DQAs). In this paper, we describe a system developed for CHW DQAs and results of the first formal assessment in southern Kayonza, Rwanda, May-June 2011. We discuss considerations for other programs interested in adopting such systems. While the results identified gaps in the current data quality, the assessment also identified opportunities for strengthening the data to ensure suitable levels of quality for use in management and evaluation.

AB - Community health workers (CHWs) have and continue to play a pivotal role in health services delivery in many resource-constrained environments. The data routinely generated through these programs are increasingly relied upon for providing information for program management, evaluation and quality assurance. However, there are few published results on the quality of CHW-generated data, and what information exists suggests quality is low. An ongoing challenge is the lack of routine systems for CHW data quality assessments (DQAs). In this paper, we describe a system developed for CHW DQAs and results of the first formal assessment in southern Kayonza, Rwanda, May-June 2011. We discuss considerations for other programs interested in adopting such systems. While the results identified gaps in the current data quality, the assessment also identified opportunities for strengthening the data to ensure suitable levels of quality for use in management and evaluation.

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Utilizing community health worker data for program management and evaluation: Systems for data quality assessments and baseline results from Rwanda

Abstract

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Keywords

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