Lessons for health program monitoring and evaluation in a low resource setting

Numerous guidelines outline best practices for health program monitoring and evaluation (M & E). However, health programs are often implemented in less than ideal circumstances where these best practices may not be resourced or feasible. This article describes how M & E has been conducted for a health service delivery improvement program in remote Papua New Guinea and outlines lessons learned. The lessons learned were to integrate M & E into every aspect of the program, strengthen existing health information data, link primary data collection with existing program activities, conduct regular monitoring and feedback for early identification of implementation issues, involve the program team in evaluation, and communicate M & E data through multiple mediums to stakeholders. These lessons could be applied to other health programs implemented in low resource settings.