LARGE SCALE EFFECTIVENESS EVALUATIONS OF HEALTH PROGRAMS
Short Answer Assignment #2

These short answer questions ask you to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the concepts presented in course lectures and readings. You are encouraged to reference the concepts from specific readings and lectures, but should rephrase the concepts in your own words, rather than directly quoting from a text. Please adhere to the word limit for your response to each questionwe are looking for clear and concise responses that demonstrate a strong grasp of the material. For most questions, students should be able to provide a strong answer to the question in well under the word limit.
This is an open-note and open-book assignment. Please review all module knowledge for your reference:
Module 1_Indicators
Module 1_1 Indicators from Inputs to Impact: An Overview of Constructing and Choosing Indicators
Module 1_2 Coverage Indicators and the Countdown to 2015 and 2030
Module 1_3 Selecting Key Performance Indicators

Module 2_Data Sources – Inputs to Outcomes
Module 2_1 Overview of Data Sources Across Evaluation Components
Module 2_2 Documentation – Using Existing, Routine, and Programmatic Data to Describe Implementation and Contextual Factors in Evaluations
Module 2_3 Health Facility and Provider Surveys in Evaluations

Module 3_Data Sources Impact
Module 3_1 Overview of Impact Indicators and Their Measurement
Module 3_2 Measurement of Childhood Mortality
Module 3_3 Impact Evaluation Case Studies
Module 3_4 Evaluation of Nutrition Programs or Program Components: Case Study from MexicoProgresa/Oportunidades
Module 3_5 Modeling Impact Results

Short answer questions
1.    Consider the following example of a poorly constructed indicator: Strengthened capacity of Ministry of Health officials to plan and manage reproductive health services.1 Please discuss the weaknesses of this indicator using the SMART criteria discussed in the indicators lecture. (Limit of 150 words)
Knowledge Needed: Module 1_1
                                  Module 1_2

2.    In the article Context Matters, Victora et al. describe how contextual factors may act as confounders or effect modifiers on the results of an impact evaluation. Consider the example of a drought that occurs during two years of a five-year non-randomized longitudinal evaluation with concurrent control of the use of insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent malaria, with the outcome of interest being child mortality (e.g. longitudinal-control design as characterized by Habicht2). Describe how you would determine whether the drought acted as: a) a confounder; and b) an effect modifier. (Limit of 150 words)
Knowledge Needed: Module 2_1
                                  Module 2_2
                                  Reading_Context Matters

3.    You have been asked to critique the proposed design for a prospective evaluation of a large-scale child health initiative in Ethiopia. The program includes many community and facility interventions and the evaluators have planned to measure child mortality at baseline and endline through household surveys with a full birth history in the intervention district and a matched control district. However, you are concerned that the evaluators only plan to measure child mortality. Using the frameworks and case studies youve learned about in class, what other data would you recommend that they collect, and how would you convince them to look beyond child mortality? (Limit of 150 words)
Knowledge Needed: Module 3
reading_approaches to the Measurement of Childhood Mortality
reading_Measuring maternal mortality

4.    You are working on a team that is evaluating a program that aims to improve the use of modern contraceptives among postpartum women by integrating contraceptive counseling into routine antenatal and postnatal care visits. The main activity of this program is training health workers that provide antenatal and postnatal care (nurses, midwives, etc.) on contraceptive counseling. The only primary data collection activities will be a household survey and a facility assessment with direct observation of antenatal and postnatal visits. Please discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the two data sources, and name one indicator that you would measure with each source. (Limit of 150 words)
Knowledge Needed: Module 2_3 & other module knowledge