23/07/2013 by Hugh Lort-Phillips
Luca Pavone, the Regional Nutrition Delegate for West Africa and the Sahel, shares his opinions on coverage monitoring and their collaboration with the CMN.
The Coverage Monitoring Network is definitely a key tool for CMAM programs and encourages a crucial part of monitoring and evaluation.
Coverage is a major issue in public health, especially for community based approaches such as CMAM programs. They need to reach as much of the population in need as possible. In reality many barriers can impact coverage. Rural populations are hard to reach and some traditional behaviors can reduce compliance of population to public health programs. Poverty is also a major obstacle.
Measuring coverage becomes crucial. Thanks to the Coverage Monitoring Network many CMAM programs are measuring their coverage and much more.....
The SQUEAC methodology is an investigative process where not only the coverage rate is calculated, but also a comprehensive analysis of the barriers to access is carried out.
Identifying the barriers to the access is the most useful result of the SQUEAC surveys. Understanding is essential and CMAM programs can adapt their approach to minimize the barriers to access identified by a SQUEAC.
Improving coverage is saving more lives.