Application of Quality Improvement approaches in maternal, neonatal and child health outcomes: Lessons from Gombe State, Nigeria

Northeast Nigeria, where Gombe State is located, has an extremely high maternal mortality ratio at 1,549 deaths per 100,000 live births and neonatal mortality rate of 33 deaths per 1,000 live births. The health system in the State faces a number of challenges: from inadequacy of health equipment and essential lifesaving commodities, to poor utilization of MNCH services in the public health facilities. To address this, Pact as part of a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation project; SAQIP, implemented a highly participatory quality improvement (QI) process across 57 PHC in Gombe State. The process resulted in 78% significant improvement in uptake of ANC continuum of care, with lessons for replication and scale up across Gombe State Primary Health Care system.