title: Improved measurement for mothers, newborns and children in the era of the Sustainable Development Goals.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  An urgent priority in maternal, newborn and child health is to accelerate the scale-up of cost-effective essential interventions, especially during labor, the immediate postnatal period and for the treatment of serious infectious diseases and acute malnutrition.  Tracking intervention coverage is a key activity to support scale-up and in this paper we examine priorities in coverage measurement, distinguishing between essential interventions that can be measured now and those that require methodological development.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conceptualized a typology of indicators related to intervention coverage that distinguishes access to care from receipt of an intervention by the population in need.  We then built on documented evidence on coverage measurement to determine the status of indicators for essential interventions and to identify areas for development.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Contact indicators from pregnancy to childhood were identified as current indicators for immediate use, but indicators reflecting the quality of care provided during these contacts need development. At each contact point, some essential interventions can be measured now, but the need for development of indicators predominates around interventions at the time of birth and interventions to treat infections. Addressing this need requires improvements in routine facility based data capture, methods for linking provider and community-based data, and improved guidance for effective coverage measurement that reflects the provision of high-quality care.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Coverage indicators for some essential interventions can be measured accurately through household surveys and be used to track progress in maternal, newborn and child health.  Other essential interventions currently rely on contact indicators as proxies for coverage but urgent attention is needed to identify new measurement approaches that directly and reliably measure their effective coverage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Disease Control, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
authors.forename: Tanya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Marchant
authors.affiliation: Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bryce
authors.affiliation: International Center for Equity in Health, Post-Graduate Programme in Epidemiology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, Brazil.
authors.forename: Cesar
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Victora
authors.affiliation: Global Health Fellows Program II, Bureau for Global Health, US Agency for International Development, Washington, USA.
authors.forename: Allisyn C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Moran
authors.affiliation: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Mariam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Claeson
authors.affiliation: Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Requejo
authors.affiliation: UNICEF, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Agbessi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amouzou
authors.affiliation: Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA.
authors.forename: Neff
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.affiliation: WHO, Health Systems and Innovation, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Ties
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Boerma
authors.affiliation: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grove
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D000067576:Child Health / Q000592:standards*; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000191:economics*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis / Q000379:methods; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D014943:Global Health / Q000592:standards; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008427:Maternal Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D009035:Mothers; D011247:Pregnancy; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000639:trends*