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The Quality, Equity and Dignity (QED) Working Group[i] provides technical support and recommendations to Government of India towards improved maternal and child health
New Delhi, December 11, 2018:
World Health Organisation (WHO) and CARE India under the aegis of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) organised a workshop today as a prelude to the PMNCH Partners’ Forum meeting around ‘Quality Equity and Dignity’ (QED) in maternal and child health. The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH), a global alliance of 192 countries, including India, is working to advance Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A). Today’s meeting witnessed active participation from several key stakeholders such as Dr. Henke Bekedam, WHO Representative to India; Mr. Manoj Jhalani, Additional Secretary & Mission Director, NHM, MoHFW , representatives from USAID, UNICEF, NHSRC and Access Health International. Dr. Vinod Paul, Member NITI Aayog delivered the keynote address.
The discussions focused on the barriers to providing quality, equitable and respectful health care and strategies to address the challenges based on evidence-based learnings from member countries. Major emphasis was placed on the importance of quality, equity and dignity in health care for mothers and children everywhere, irrespective of social and financial status, gender or physical ability. It also highlighted India’s efforts to achieve universal access to respectful and high-quality health care.
“Quality Equity and Dignity’ (QED) need to be categorised within the health system and not done in a project mode. Let us go beyond having islands of excellence amidst rivers of misery”, said Dr. Kasonde Mwinga, Team Leader, Health Through the Life Course, WHO India.
During the event, Mr. Manoj Jhalani, Additional Secretary, & Mission Director, National Health Mission, MoHFW, “urged all partners to integrate efforts towards quality, equity and dignity in health services to end preventable maternal, child and newborn deaths and achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC). He stressed upon the need to focus on quality skilled workforce which can provide micro level solutions to ensure care at patient level and the population level.”
The keynote address for the event was delivered by Dr. Vinod Paul, Member, NITI Aayog wherein he said, “ Quality must be accompanied with accountability for care at all the levels. There is a need to invest in various aspects like technology in healthcare, development of efficient learning sites for skilled workforce, quality infrastructure, hospitals and healthcare centres to mainstream Quality Equity and Dignity in maternal and child health.
To accelerate efforts toward reproductive, maternal, newborn, adolescent and child health, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has established a national RMNCAH coalition comprising of policy and program leaders. Within the coalition, working groups for priority areas within health have been identified. These areas include Adolescent Health; Urban Health; Quality, Equity, Dignity (QED); and Early Child Development. Under the leadership of MoHFW, and convened by the World Health Organization and CARE India, the QED working group aims to facilitate cross learning of best practices under RMNCH+A and provide technical support and recommendations to Government of India toward improved health outcomes. Toward this end, partners[1] constituting the QED group are developing a position paper highlighting the recent progress, challenges, and way forward for equal and respectful quality health care services for all. The position paper will serve as the basis for collating a compendium of case studies and subsequent actionable recommendations under RMNCH+A for the Government.
Speaking on the panel, Mr. Sanjay Kumar IAS, Principal Secretary Health, Bihar stated, “Quality is a state of mind. The real challenge is building capacity and innate a sense of motivation among the health workers at the community level. He stressed on providing enhanced great in -service training and upgrading levels of pre-service training for ASHAs, ANMs and health service providers for quality care.”
Current hindrances to deliver quality services in health facilities include lack of trained healthcare workers, ill-equipped facilities and poor policy implementation. Unavailability of reliable administrative data on quality of care and respectful maternity is a limitation to take decisions to improve the current state. The forum has consistently stressed upon the need to capacitate health workers and strengthen leadership at all levels of health system to ensure effective monitoring of health programs and swift redressal of existing challenges. It is also critical to channelize investment into the sector to ensure positive outcomes to reduce maternal mortality and child mortality rates in all the countries.
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