Monitoring health services in an emergency context

 

Throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries faced a multitude of questions to prepare for and respond to COVID-19 while maintaining other essential health services across the life course. Key decisions and actions relied on access to accurate and timely data on health service delivery and utilization throughout all phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, WHO coordinated efforts to support countries to strengthen continuous health system and service monitoring in the context of COVID-19 at national, facility and community levels.

These tools can now be rapidly adapted and applied for use in other pandemic or outbreak contexts.

Monitoring the impact of COVID-19 on essential health services

Global pulse survey on continuity of essential health services

The global pulse survey provides a rapid snapshot into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on essential health services across countries. It provides key informant insight into country policies, plans and mechanisms to support continuity of essential health services, the extent of service disruptions across the health system, reasons for disruptions, and strategies that countries are using to mitigate service disruptions.

View findings

Analysing and using routine data to monitor the effects of COVID-19 on essential health services

This guidance aims to help countries monitor and analyse the impact of COVID-19 on essential health services to inform planning and decision-making. It provides practical recommendations on how to use key performance indicators to analyse changes in access to and delivery of essential health services; how to visualize and interpret these data; and how to use findings to guide modifications for safe delivery of services. The guidance supports Maintaining essential health services: operational guidance for the COVID-19 context.

View guidance

Monitoring frontline service readiness capacities during the COVID-19 pandemic

Suite of health service capacity assessments in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

This suite of facility and community assessments can support countries to track and monitor current, surge and future capacities of health facilities throughout the different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. The suite aims to strengthen country capacities to assess service capacities to respond to COVID-19 while maintaining other essential health services.

View suite of facility and community assessments

Publications

Critical preparedness, readiness and response actions for COVID-19
27 May 2021

Critical preparedness, readiness and response actions for COVID-19

All countries should increase their level of preparedness, alert and response to identify, manage and care for new cases of COVID-19. Countries should...

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5 June 2020

Monitoring and evaluation framework

The COVID-19 SPRP Monitoring and Evaluation Framework aims to assess performance and provide recorded information to support analysis of progress against...

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22 May 2020

Operational planning guidance to support country preparedness and response

Building upon an updated assessment of country risk and vulnerability and the Strategy Update, the Updated Operational Guidelines serves as a practical...

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Contact

For more information on the WHO Suite of health service capacity assessments in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, please contact: EHSmonitoring@who.int