Maximizing Access and Quality (MAQ) Initiative
In 1993, in the search for solutions to the large unmet
demand for voluntary contraceptive services in the developing
world, USAID launched the Maximizing Access and Quality (MAQ)
initiative to identify and address barriers
to client access and to work to improve family planning
service delivery standards and quality. Assistance is
provided to such areas as provider training, service
management and supervision, client education, and increasing
the choice of available contraceptive methods. MAQ also
works to distill and disseminate lessons learned and
to identify future critical issues that could impact
quality care.
MAQ encompasses all USAID efforts in family planning
and reproductive health - in the Offices of Population
and Reproductive Health and the Office of Health, Infectious
Diseases, and Nutrition, in the Missions, and in the
cooperating agency (CA) community - that support the
institutionalization of a modern quality assurance program.
These areas of work include policy development, creation
of systems to monitor quality, development of clinical
standards and guidelines, strategies for promoting compliance
with guidelines, standardized benchmarking methodologies
for best practices, redesign of systems of care, documentation
of quality assurance activities, performance-based incentive
systems, monitoring and evaluation of QA programs, and
regulatory strategies for quality, including accreditation,
certification, and licensing.
Related Links
- Couple Years of Protection (CYP)
An overview of Couple of Years of Protection (CYP), the estimated protection provided by contraceptive methods during a one-year period, based upon the volume of all contraceptives sold or distributed free of charge to clients during that period.
- Maximizing
Access and Quality (MAQ) Initiative
MAQ is an initiative to apply state-of-the-art methods
to maximize access to and quality of family planning
and other selected reproductive health services.
- Quality
Assurance Project
The Quality Assurance Project is a global leader
in the advocacy, development, and promotion of cost-effective
methods to strengthen healthcare services and systems
in developing and middle-income countries.
Related Publications
- A Guide for Fostering Change to Scale Up Effective Health Services [PDF, 5.8MB]
This Guide was produced for the Implementing Best Practices (IBP) Consortium by the
USAID-funded Leadership, Management, and Sustainability (LMS) Project of Management Sciences for Health
(MSH). The guide presents a pathway that links proven change practices with evidenced-based clinical and programmatic practices to cross barriers of change resistance. It helps teams to foster change and work together to break down barriers and focus actions to obtain a common goal.
- New IUD Toolkit Available
The IUD Toolkit was compiled by members of the IUD Subcommittee of USAID's Maximizing Access and Quality Initiative. Policy makers, program managers, providers, and others interested in adding or improving existing IUD services in their family planning programs can visit http://www.iudtoolkit.org to access free and downloadable full-text resources on the IUD. Many resources are available in French or Spanish.
- Intrauterine Devices (IUDs) - Old Thinking Versus New Thinking
The advent of the copper IUD has brought about a change in the way we think about IUD use. Many restrictions on IUD use have been lifted. The Old Think/New Think tool gives an update on this shift in thinking and reflects the latest guidance from the World Health Organization.
- Contraception for Women on First-Line Antiretrovirals (ARVs)
A Global Health Technical Brief explaining why the availability of contraceptives to women on ARVs is necessary, and how different contraceptive methods interact with ARVs.
- The Technology of Performance Improvement: How We Get Results
On September 14, 2004, USAID sponsored a day-long workshop in Washington, D.C., which was designed to gather lessons learned from the implementation of performance improvement in USAID-funded programs in the field.
- USAID Guidance on Depo Study
An announcement from USAID regarding a recent study of women using the injectable contraceptive depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate.
- MAQ Population Report: Organizing Work Better
This report responds to the challenge facing family planning and other health care organizations in developing countries - doing more with the same resources, and sometimes with fewer, and offers advice on how to reorganize work processes to conserve resources and operate more effectively.
- Family Planning/HIV Technical Guidance - September 2003 [PDF, 255KB]
This document includes technical insights regarding FP/HIV integration and should be used in conjunction with USAID’s Guidance on the Definition and Use of the Child Survival and Health Programs Fund for information regarding appropriate use of USAID funds.
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