More articles from TECHNICAL NOTE
- Indicators and Implementation Guidance to Advance Value-Based HIV Care Through People-Centered Metrics
We argue that validating person-centered outcome metrics and integrating them into HIV programs may improve patient’s quality of life and health outcomes by informing the provider-client relationship, promoting integrated service delivery at the program level, and influencing policy and budget allocations at the population level.
- Couple-Years of Protection Indicator: New Global Guidance for Updating Existing Methods and Adding New Methods
Couple-years of protection is an important indicator for measuring coverage of family planning programs. Method-specific updates are required when a new method is introduced, a regulatory body changes the duration of use, or a significant change in presentation occurs.
- Digitalizing Clinical Guidelines: Experiences in the Development of Clinical Decision Support Algorithms for Management of Childhood Illness in Resource-Constrained Settings
Clinical decision support systems can strengthen the quality of IMCI but can vary because of the need for interpretation when translating narrative guidelines into decision logic combined with considerations of context and design choices.
- Development of a Modular and Equitable Surgical Simulator
Current trends in surgical simulation favor high-fidelity, costly models that are often limited to high-income academic centers. The GlobalSurgBox overcomes many of the barriers to routine implementation and use of surgical simulators in low-income countries by circumventing the often prohibitive financial, time, and personnel investments required of current simulation prototypes.
- Mid-Upper Arm Circumference Tapes and Measurement Discrepancies: Time to Standardize Product Specifications and Reporting
Mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) is a widely used anthropometric measure to identify children with acute malnutrition. The use of different tapes of varied materials and thicknesses to measure MUAC has led to discrepancies. This indicates the need for global standardization of MUAC tape design.
- Improving Hospital Oxygen Systems for COVID-19 in Low-Resource Settings: Lessons From the Field
Hospitals in low- and middle-income countries urgently need to improve their oxygen systems for COVID-19 and other health emergencies. We share practical tips to improve pulse oximetry and oxygen use, support biomedical engineers to optimize existing oxygen supplies, and expand existing oxygen systems with robust equipment and smart design.
- Planning for Outcomes (P4O) Modeling Tool: Estimating the Impact of Changing the Proportion of Injectable Progestins in the Contraceptive Method Mix
The interactive deterministic online modeling tool P4O allows users to estimate how changing the proportion of injectable progestins in the contraceptive method mix might affect HIV and maternal and child health outcomes. With careful consideration for women's individual choices, policy makers and program planners may use country-specific results to help inform programming and policy decisions.
- Revisiting the Facility-Based Delivery Rate Formula in the Philippines for Better Local Health Governance and Services
When calculating local facility-based delivery rates, the standard measure based on place of birth excludes residents' facility births outside the municipality. In contrast, counting the facility births of all residents—regardless of whether they take place within or outside their home municipality—provides a more accurate population- or residence-based measure of use of services for that catchment area. This residence-based measure offers local governments a better understanding of coverage gaps by taking into account place of residence rather than place of birth.