title: [Local government management regarding the quality of children's healthcare].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Assessing the quality of healthcare programs aimed at children and adolescents set by Colombian local governments in compliance with current legal standards.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a descriptive study which evaluated the evidence regarding surveillance of quality systems and compliance with accessibility, opportunity, safety, continuity and relevance as indicators of quality concerning service delivery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No evidence was found showing that the local governments so examined were developing child-orientated health programs specifically addressing epidemiological reality. Ongoing activities complied with minimum legal requirements and were not being evaluated regarding their quality, meaning that an approach aimed at improvement was not being adopted.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The above results are thus proposed as a working baseline and, given that the role of local government in terms of healthcare quality ranges from planning, to surveillance and quality control concerning providers, quality management programs must be implemented before new healthcare programs are introduced.
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia. abautistao@unal.edu.co
authors.forename: Aldemar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bautista-Otero
authors.forename: Juan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Garcia-Ubaque
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards*; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009111:Local Government; D008297:Male; D016730:Program Development; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D058996:Quality Improvement; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D017749:Total Quality Management