Individual interactions in a multi-country implementation-focused quality of care network for maternal, newborn and child health: A social network analysis.

The Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (QCN) was established to build a cross-country platform for joint-learning around quality improvement implementation approaches to reduce mortality. This paper describes and explores the structure of the QCN in four countries and at global level. Using Social Network Analysis (SNA), this cross-sectional study maps the QCN networks at global level and in four countries (Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Malawi and Uganda) and assesses the interactions among actors involved.

Local Dynamics of Collaboration for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health: A Social Network Analysis of Healthcare Providers and Their Managers in Gert Sibande District, South Africa.

Background: Accountability for maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) is a collaborative endeavour and documenting collaboration dynamics may be key to understanding variations in the performance of MNCH services. This study explored the dynamics of collaboration among frontline health professionals participating in two MNCH coordination structures in a rural South African district. It examined the role and position of actors, the nature of their relationships, and the overall structure of the collaborative network in two sub-districts.

Practice of death surveillance and response for maternal, newborn and child health: a framework and application to a South African health district.

Objective: To assess the functioning of maternal, perinatal, neonatal and child death surveillance and response (DSR) mechanisms at a health district level.

Design: A framework of elements covering analysis of causes of death, and processes of review and response was developed and applied to the smallest unit of coordination (subdistrict) to evaluate DSR functioning. The evaluation design was a descriptive qualitative case study, based on observations of DSR practices and interviews.

Perceptions and experiences of frontline health managers and providers on accountability in a South African health district.

Objective: Public primary health care and district health systems play important roles in expanding healthcare access and promoting equity. This study explored and described accountability for this mandate as perceived and experienced by frontline health managers and providers involved in delivering maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) services in a rural South African health district.

Methods: This was a qualitative study involving in-depth interviews with a purposive sample of 58 frontline public sector health managers and providers in the district office and two sub-districts, examining the meanings of accountability and related lived experiences.

The crowded space of local accountability for maternal, newborn and child health: a case study of the South African health system.

Global and national accountability for maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) is increasingly invoked as central to addressing preventable mortality and morbidity. Strategies of accountability for MNCH include policy and budget tracking, maternal and perinatal death surveillance, performance targets and various forms of social accountability. However, little is known about how the growing number of accountability strategies for MNCH is received by frontline actors, and how they are integrated into the overall functioning of local health systems.