Thesis Proposal Review: Evaluating Health Service Delivery in Papua New Guinea

PNG

About

Health systems are complex structures that vary widely between different countries. Monitoring and evaluation (M&E), including resultant indicators, has long been established as the mechanism for measuring health system performance, both for the purpose of accountability and quality improvement through informed decision making. However, the information gained through M&E activities, is only valuable if it is acted upon in an effective and timely manner.

Despite data collection taking place at the health service delivery interface, that is, in Primary Health Care (PHC), there is little research to date on how to use data effectively at this level of the system, for health service delivery improvement. This is particularly relevant for health systems like that in Papua New Guinea (PNG), where there are multiple administrative layers and the geography means communities are often isolated and reliant solely on their locally available health services.

This PhD project aims to understand the process of using the findings from M&E activities to drive improvements in health service delivery within communities in PNG. It is about unpacking the feedback loop, from data to action, at the local level of the health system, to provide evidence and discover new ways of leveraging data use.

Bio

Nicole RendellNicole is a highly motivated Health Policy Professional with over ten years of experience working in health policy and monitoring and evaluation roles. Since completing a Master of Public Health, she has worked for federal government agencies in Australia and Mongolia as well as the World Health Organization. Currently, she is undertaking health systems research at the Research School for Population Health at ANU. Her research interests are focused on using available data to improve health service delivery in communities. Previous research has focused on tuberculosis care in Mongolia.

All her work has been underpinned by the principles of operational research with the view to improve implementation of existing resources, in collaboration with those that live and work in these communities.