HealthBridge discussed "Measuring Results of Maternal and Child Health Initiatives in Remote Areas" at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Partnership for Women and Children's Health in Montreal.

This panel explored successes and challenges in measuring results of maternal, newborn and child health initiatives in rural and hard to reach areas. Panelists explored advantages and limitations in using technology for data collection, designing tools for multiple ethnic and cultural contexts and strengthening monitoring and evaluation systems of national government programs. The panelists included Canadian and developing country researchers from the non-government and health sectors; they discussed measuring results in the context of both individual projects and national health programs.

Dr. Tran Hung Minh, Centre for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population (CCIHP), Vietnam, presented at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Partnership for Women and Children's Health. Dr. Minh, a medical doctor, researcher and public health professional based in Hanoi, Vietnam, has extensive experience in the development and implementation of monitoring and evaluation systems. He presented results from a review of the Vietnam national Maternal Newborn Child Health programme's monitoring system, and how this system can be strengthened. He also discussed his experience carrying out surveys in remote and rural districts of Vietnam. See Dr. Tran Hung Minh's presentation.

Dr. Bwire Chirangi is a physician and the Medical Director of the Shirati District Hospital in Mara Tanzania. He is also the Tanzanian investigator of the Saving Mothers Project based in Tarime and Bunda Districts of Mara Region. Dr. Chirangi discussed his experience of measuring results of a program to distribute birth kits with misoprostol in rural Tanzania using surveys and m-Health data collected by Community Health Workers.

Dr. Peter Berti, HealthBridge is a nutrition advisor and researcher at HealthBridge, based in Ottawa, and has extensive experience designing and implementing evaluations of maternal and child health interventions, particularly with respect to food and nutrition. In his presentation, he discussed the costs and benefits, successes and limitations of direct data capture for evaluating maternal and child health and nutrition projects in remote areas of the Global South. See Dr. Peter Berti's presentation.