Using Data-based Decision Making to Improve Quality of FP Services in Private Sector Health Facilities and Pharmacies

USAID’s MOMENTUM Private Healthcare Delivery Project (MPHD) Nepal works to expand availability of high-quality, person-centered Family Planning (FP) services in private health service delivery points (SDPs), i.e. pharmacies, clinics/ polyclinics and hospitals to reduce unmet contraceptive needs of adolescents and young people. The project’s 2023 assessment of private sector SDPs highlighted organizational gaps to data-informed decision-making for high-quality, person-centered FP services. MPHD Nepal utilizes Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA) as an integral program approach to capacitate SDPs to practice data-informed adaptive management. Specifically, the project encouraged SDPs to collect relevant service statistics and client feedback, and review their performance on quality assessments. The project also supports data interpretation using simple dashboards; offers coaching to review data and develop customized action plans to improve quality of service delivery; and routinely convenes the private providers and municipal government stakeholders to pause-and-reflect, share lessons and promote greater private sector engagement. The use of CLA has enhanced the organizational effectiveness of private SDPs to provide high-quality, person-centered FP services. This is evidenced by data from project monitoring: an increase in the proportion of SDPs practicing data-informed decision-making from 24% (September 2023) to 97% (May 2024), an increase in SDPs providing quality FP services from 12% to 95% in the same period, and a reduction in FP commodity stockouts from 19% to 0%. SDPs were guided by data to advance quality improvement activities on sanitation and privacy, creating a more inclusive environment for adolescents and young people, better managing contraceptive stock, and tailoring marketing activities.