On January 27, 2021, Hema Magge, MD, MS, led a Center for Methods in Implementation and Prevention Science (CMIPS) seminar in which she gave an overview of health equity and social justice approaches to quality improvement of maternal and neonatal care systems in low-income, resource-strained settings. In her talk entitled “What is the Role of Quality Improvement in Advancing Global Maternal and Newborn Health Equity and Scale?” Dr. Magge highlighted both the human factors and systemic issues that impact the quality of care available around the world. She provided a robust example of how her teams in Rwanda and Ethiopia can leverage improvement science and integrate various aspects of quality (planning, control, and improvement) into large systems. She emphasized the need to create a culture around quality that drives system change and performance. She also provided evidence of the promise of this comprehensive approach, when delivered in a phased scale framework, from the Ethiopia health care quality initiative, which created collaboratives within and across the Ministry of Health and its health facilities. The initiative’s adaptive design was able to respond nimbly to emerging and unanticipated needs of health facilities and improve core maternal and neonatal health and service coverage indicators. These methodological approaches are a great example of how quality improvement can be used in implementation science to enhance and sustain equitable, effective, and just care for women, their children, and families worldwide.
Hema Magge, MD, MS
Dr. Magge serves as the Senior Program Officer, Newborn Health, on the Maternal, Newborn, and Child health team at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. She also holds academic appointments at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Division of Global Health Equity, Boston Children’s Hospital, and Harvard Medical School.
Photo by Hema Magge,
Submitted by Sruly Tootle on February 05, 2021