The quality of hospital care for mothers, newborns, and children in 11 pilot hospitals across Kyrgyzstan has significantly improved, according to an assessment undertaken by a visiting team made up of experts from WHO and collaborating centres in the Russian Federation. The visit assessed progress in carrying out the project on improving quality of hospital care in Kyrgyzstan, which aims to reduce preventable maternal, newborn and child mortality rates and speed up progress toward achieving the health-related Sustainable Development Goals. A baseline assessment of the quality of maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) care at the hospital level was conducted in 2021.
The baseline assessment was followed by a complex improvement process over 2 years, which included updates to clinical guidelines, training sessions in technical areas and quality-improvement methods, supportive supervision, and biannual collaborative improvement meetings between hospitals. The recent assessment found that, while most of the hospitals showed significant improvements in various case-management indicators, the standard of care in many cases did not yet meet international standards, and this was often attributed to challenges related to hospital support and the organization of services.
Measuring improvement
769 health-care providers were trained in key technical areas, such as effective perinatal care, using the “Pocket book on hospital care for children” and near-miss case reviews. Furthermore, 5 rounds of supportive supervision and 4 biannual quality-improvement workshops have taken place.
The mission highlighted that, for health-care workers to provide high-quality care, they need fair compensation and access to well-equipped health infrastructure, including diagnostic tests, medicines, devices and technologies. Quality improvement depends on the collaboration of all aspects of the health-care system. Additionally, strong support and leadership from hospital management are vital in promoting high-quality care. Consequently, pilot hospitals that experienced frequent changes in leadership and had limited support for the improvement process tended to show less progress.
“We’re happy with how Kyrgyzstan’s hospitals are improving. We helped, through the project, to make health care better for mums and kids in 11 hospitals across the country. There are still challenges, but our help – along with Kyrgyzstan’s hard work – made a big difference. This shows what we can do when we work together for better health care,” said Dr Liviu Vedrasco, WHO Representative to the Kyrgyz Republic.
Sharing success
The findings from the progress assessment were shared during the biannual quality-improvement workshop for pilot hospitals and the extended national steering group meeting, which marked the conclusion of the mission in the country.
This mission’s success was made possible thanks to technical support from WHO headquarters, WHO Regional Office for Europe, and WHO collaborating centres in the Russian Federation.