Participatory Community Quality Improvement (PCQI)
Participatory Community Quality Improvement (PCQI) brings providers and communities together in discussion forums to identify barriers to service access and to design solutions. Through this approach, communities provided direct feedback on the quality of care they received. Using this information, L10K supported HEWs to build their skills in service areas where gaps were identified and helped make health facilities more welcoming for pregnant women, including spaces for women and their families to prepare coffee ceremonies to celebrate new babies. Expanded services hours and systems to address logistics and emergencies also increased the availability of health care services, and, as a result, more families are using them.
The PCQI strategy in L10K coverage areas contributed to the improvement in selected maternal and newborn care behaviors and provider and household practices. Community engagement in quality improvement for maternal and newborn health care services, in combination with other L10K activities and national Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (BEmONC) strengthening initiatives has been linked to an increase in the coverage of antenatal care (ANC) visits, complete ANC, and institutional deliveries. Learn more in L10K's article published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, Effects of a participatory community quality improvement strategy on improving household and provider health care behaviors and practices: a propensity score analysis.