Application of Epidemiology (Part 6)

Monitoring

an ongoing activity during program implementation to assess the current status of its implementation in terms of compliance to design the program, timelines, and attainment of midterm goals

Result of monitoring

the project management team is able to:

- Assess the progress of the program implementation;

- Identify problems;

- Take corrective action;

Result of monitoring

the project management team is able to:

- Have a tool for quality assurance and management;

- Measure achievement of midterm program objectives; and

- Lay the groundwork for program evaluation.

Evaluation

a process that systematically and objectively assesses compliance to the design of the program, the performance, relevance and success of the project, that is, the extent to which a project accomplishes its intended result (outcomes)

Evaluation

This process employs research techniques and applies the methods of epidemiology and health statistics

Evaluation

Primary purpose: to provide feedback on the results (outcome) and impact of the project in order to inform policymakers and planners about the efficacy of the intervention

Principles of evaluation

- Impartiality

- independence

- partnership

- communication and coordination

- credibility and transparency

Comparison

- essence of impact evaluation

- based on observations of different groups at the same time or of the same group at different points over time

impact evaluation

done to measure and compare these observations and conclude whether or not observed differences may be attributed to the project

Epidemiologic evidence

necessary for the formulation of health policy

Epidemiologic evidence

Example: Legislation of Republic Act 9288, also known as the Newborn Screening (NBS) Act of 2004.

* This law was passed from a study done by a group of obstetricians and pediatricians from 24 hospitals in Metro Manila

* Philippine Newborn Screening Project (PNBSP) showed that incidence of 6 metabolic conditions is high enough to be considered of public health importance.