Creating a Global Legal and Policy Database and Document Repository: Challenges and Lessons Learned From the World Health Organization Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health Policy Survey

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) has collected information on policies on sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (SRMNCAH) over many years. Creating a global survey that works for every country context is a well-recognized challenge. A comprehensive SRMNCAH policy survey was conducted by WHO from August 2018 through May 2019. WHO regional and country offices coordinated with Ministries of Health and/or national institutions who completed the questionnaire. The survey was completed by 150 of 194 WHO Member States using an online platform that allowed for submission of national source documents. A validation of the responses for selected survey questions against content of the national source documents was conducted for 101 countries (67%) for the first time in the administration of the survey. Data validation draws attention to survey questions that may have been misunderstood or where there was a lot of missing data, but varying methods for validating survey responses against source documents and separate analysis of laws from policies and guidelines may have hindered the overall conclusions of this process. The SRMNCAH policy survey both provided a platform for countries to track their progress in adopting WHO recommendations in national SRMNCAH-related legislation, policies, guidelines and strategies and was used to create a global database and searchable document repository. The outputs of the SRMNCAH policy survey are resources whose importance will be enriched through policy dialogues and wide utilization. Lessons learned from the methodology used for this survey can help to improve future updates and inform similar efforts.

Assessing the neonatal health policy landscape in low- and middle-income countries: Findings from the 2018 WHO SRMNCAH policy survey

“…A SRMNCAH policy reference group was established to guide the survey's development and expansion. Additionally, an online platform was developed to track country progress and, for the first time, collect source documentation to allow for validation of survey responses against national laws, policies, and guidelines [14].…”

“…primary policy measures and related policy details), 2) partial (if at least one of the specified policies in the package was available), and 3) no availability (if none of the specified policies in the package was available). The inclusion of specific policies for each package was driven by WHO's technical consultation and prioritization process undertaken to align and expand the 2018-2019 SRMNCAH Policy Survey content and informed through an extensive data validation exercise [14]. Consequently, the composition of each composite policy package varies in the number of specified policies.…”

“…Other global initiatives have also incorporated key newborn health policy tracers within their monitoring and evaluation frameworks to track policy formulation within and across countries [2,[11][12][13]. Since 2009, the World Health Organization's (WHO) Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Aging (MCA) and Reproductive Health and Research (RHR) departments have also undertaken a global policy survey to track country progress in adopting WHO recommendations in national health policies, strategies, and guidelines related to sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (SRMNCAH) [14].…”

“…Using the most recent WHO SRMNCAH Policy Survey [14], we adapted Singh et al's [10] health systems and policy assessment framework to focus on the "black box" of policy inputs related to newborn health (Figure 1). We aimed to describe the availability of newborn health policies across the continuum of care in LMICs and to assess the relationship between LMICs' availability of newborn health policies and their achievement of SDG and ENAP neonatal mortality and stillbirth rate targets in 2019.…”

Improving measures of access to legal abortion: A validation study triangulating multiple data sources to assess a global indicator

“…institutions [21,22]. Similarly, Countdown to 2030 (hereafter, Countdown) arises from a collaboration of academics, UN agencies, the World Bank, and civil society to track progress toward the health-related Sustainable Development Goals [23] and includes "legal status of abortion" as reported by the UN Population Division in its policy indicators [24].…”