Improving health and well-being outcomes for children (age 1 month to 59 months, and 5 to 9 years) is a priority for WHO and UNICEF. CHAT is a technical advisory group to WHO and UNICEF. Its main objective is to support the harmonization and standardization of child health and well-being indicators.
Objectives of CHAT
Objective 1: To provide a platform for sharing and discussing the work of key child health and well-being initiatives and relevant work of UNICEF and WHO aimed at the achievement of child health related global goals and targets.
Objective 2: To identify priority activities and measurement gaps in child health and well-being.
Objective 3: To create a catalogue of standard indicators and validated tools for measuring and monitoring child health and well-being indicators.
Activities of CHAT
CHAT selected 26 core indicators measuring child health and well-being (published in Lancet Child and Adolescent Health). This group of indicators can be found in the searchable toolkit of child health indicators.
The group completed a roadmap for prioritizing a set of childhood pneumonia indicators for measurement improvement. Similar roadmaps are underway for malaria and diarrhoea.
Recommendations for using health service coverage cascades to measure effective coverage of care for maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health interventions
Responsive caregiving: Conceptual clarity and the need for indicators.
Advocacy for better integration and use of child health indicators for global monitoring.
Harmonizing data visualizations on child health and well-being to strengthen advocacy and monitoring efforts
A call for standardised age-disaggregated health data
A rapid systematic review and evidence synthesis of effective coverage measures and cascades for childbirth, newborn and child health in low- and middle-income countries
Global core indicators for measuring WHO’s paediatric quality-of-care standards in health facilities: development and expert consensus
Measurement tools and indicators for assessing nurturing care for early childhood development: A scoping review
Scaling up a monitoring and evaluation framework for sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health services and outcomes in humanitarian settings: A global initiative
Effective coverage measurement in maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition: progress, future prospects, and implications for quality health systems
Meeting reports
Meeting report: CHAT TAG Virtual meeting 10-12 February 2025
Report on the Eighth Meeting of the Child Health Accountability Tracking Technical Advisory Group (CHAT-TAG)
Meeting minutes of the Seventh Meeting of the Child Health Accountability Tracking Technical Advisory Group (CHAT-TAG)
Meeting minutes of the Fifth Meeting of the Child Health Accountability Tracking Technical Advisory Group (CHAT-TAG)
Report on the Fourth Meeting of the Child Health Accountability Tracking Technical Advisory Group (CHAT-TAG)
Report on the Third Meeting of the Child Health Accountability Tracking Technical Advisory Group (CHAT-TAG)
Second Meeting of the Child Health Accountability Tracking (CHAT)Technical Advisory Group (in-person)
First Meeting of the Child Health Accountability Tracking (CHAT)Technical Advisory Group
Peer-reviewed publications
Relief agencies in shock as Trump cuts 90% of USAID funding
Measuring and monitoring child health and wellbeing: recommendations for tracking progress with a core set of indicators in the Sustainable Development Goals era
Revitalizing child health: lessons from the past
Child Health Accountability Tracking—extending child health measurement
Key links
- UNICEF’s Data site
- MCA data portal - Child data
- Global Strategy for Women’s Children’s and Adolescents Health (2016-2030) Data Portal
- Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI)
- Improving the quality of paediatric care: an operational guide for facility based audit and review of paediatric mortality
- Ending preventable child deaths from pneumonia and diarrhoea by 2025: The integrated Global Action Plan for Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (GAPPD)
- Nurturing Care for Early Childhood Development
- WHO Global Health Estimates
- WHO Global Health Observatory
Related WHO teams
Related health topics