Data Quality Assessments Within a CLA Framework in Mozambique

Data quality is still a major challenge for all facility- and community-based programs in Mozambique. Assurance around accurate, timely, and precise quality data is critical for using program data for decision making and analysis, as well as for evaluating the performance and impact of new and ongoing projects at both the facility and community levels.

The Strategic Information Project in Mozambique (MSIP), funded by USAID and implemented by JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. (JSI), was designed to resolve critical health system challenges in monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and health information. Data quality improvement of up to 90% is one of the M&E objectives in Mozambique's HIV and AIDS Accelerated Response Plan 2013-2017. To support the National HIV program in attaining its data quality improvement goals, MSIP realized the need to move away from the traditional DQA model conducted with minimal or null Ministry of Health (MOH) involvement. A collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) approach was considered the best way to foster ownership of the eDQA process by the National HIV program. It was also selected to promote sustainability of eDQAs within the MOH while simultaneously supporting the MOH's use of the results from the assessments for data quality improvement. Introducing CLA as the approach to plan our interventions implicated a careful identification of partners, data to be collected to monitor our progress, and spaces to analyze those results and refine our strategy.  The results of the three DQA rounds showed striking results at the central, provincial, and district levels. Not only did the quality of data collected and reported improve at the facilities where a DQA was completed the previous year, but the data also improved at the rest of the province’s facilities, as seen in figure one below.