摘要：Background An urgent priority in maternal, newborn and child health is to accelerate the scale–up of cost–effective essential inter- ventions, especially during labor, the immediate postnatal period and for the treatment of serious infectious diseases and acute malnutri- tion. Tracking intervention coverage is a key activity to support scale– up and in this paper we examine priorities in coverage measurement, distinguishing between essential interventions that can be measured now and those that require methodological development. Methods We conceptualized a typology of indicators related to inter- vention coverage that distinguishes access to care from receipt of an intervention by the population in need. We then built on documented evidence on coverage measurement to determine the status of indica- tors for essential interventions and to identify areas for development. Results Contact indicators from pregnancy to childhood were iden- tified as current indicators for immediate use, but indicators reflect- ing the quality of care provided during these contacts need develop- ment. At each contact point, some essential interventions can be measured now, but the need for development of indicators predom- inates around interventions at the time of birth and interventions to treat infections. Addressing this need requires improvements in rou- tine facility based data capture, methods for linking provider and community–based data, and improved guidance for effective cover- age measurement that reflects the provision of high–quality care.
