WHO: Strengthening implementation of home-based records for maternal, newborn and child health: a guide for country programme managers
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240060586
Dear HIFA and CHIFA colleagues,
The messsage below is forwarded from WHO. There is clearly strong support for home-based paper records, reflecting widespread use of such records worldwide. This guide recognises that the definition of a home-based record would include digital records, but says 'Digital home-based records are not explicitly covered in this guide'. It will be interesting to see how the evolution of paper or digital home-based records will evolve in parallel with global efforts towards universal access to (digital) medical records.
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The World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the Japan International Cooperation Agency are collaborating to strengthen implementation of home-based records for maternal, newborn and child health. In 2023, the three organizations jointly published the guide Strengthening implementation of home-based records for maternal, newborn and child health, designed to support country programme managers in planning, selecting content, implementing and monitoring of home-based records.
An update of the guide is planned for early 2026, and we are seeking feedback from users of the current version. If you have used the implementation guide and would like to share your experiences and suggestions, please complete the attached feedback form and send it to us by email at mncah@who.int
Feedback will be collected until 30 November.
We look forward to hearing from you!
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OVERVIEW
The World Health Organization recommends the use of home-based records as a complement to facility-based records for the care of pregnant women, mothers, newborns and children in order to improve care seeking behaviours, men’s involvement and support in the household, maternal and child home care practices, infant and child feeding, and communication between health workers and women, parents and caregivers.
Despite the wide use of home-based records, implementation challenges persist, such as stock-outs, incorrect use of home-based records by health workers or low retention by women, parents and caregivers that impede the home-based record’s potential.
The guide was developed in response to the implementation issues and seeks to provide decision-making tools and activities, links to existing resources and examples from countries that can be used to strengthen processes for planning, design, implementation and monitoring of home-based records.
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org