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.
authors.affiliation: Inshuti Mu Buzima, Partners In Health, PO Box 3432, Kigali, Rwanda. tisha_mitsunaga@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Tisha
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mitsunaga
authors.forename: Bethany
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hedt-Gauthier
authors.forename: Elias
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ngizwenayo
authors.forename: Didi Bertrand
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Farmer
authors.forename: Adolphe
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karamaga
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Drobac
authors.forename: Paulin
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Basinga
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hirschhorn
authors.forename: Fidele
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ngabo
authors.forename: Cathy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mugeni
mesh_terms: D003150:Community Health Workers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003625:Data Collection / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012432:Rwanda