OVC Support Toolkit 

Quality Improvement

Photo by URC

In response to the growing number of children affected by HIV/AIDS, efforts to provide services, including basic shelter and care, education, health care, nutrition, legal protection and psychosocial support have sprung up throughout Africa. As these programmes mature and expand, implementers and donors are asking about the impact and quality of the care they are providing. What is quality care? And what makes a difference for children?

This section of the ovcsupport.net website hosts the Quality Improvement Initiative for OVC Programmes , a new partnership of USAID and OVC implementing partners to improve quality of care for children affected by HIV/AIDS. Quality care is the degree to which services maximise benefits and minimise risks, so that children may grow and develop. This definition implies a focus on outcomes of child health and well-being, rather than simply a count of services provided or received.

In 2006, several countries and programmes began exploring how quality could be defined, assessed and improved. While some commonly asked questions challenged the focus on quality because of the dire need for expanded coverage with OVC services, it is essential to focus on access and quality in order to make a meaningful and positive difference for children and to have programmes that are effective, efficient and equitable. Key building blocks to date have been the dimensions of quality , the underlying basic foundations of the standards, and a series of illustrative composite standards for OVC care that are based on country experiences and best practices to date.

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