WHO uses and/or supports large-scale population health and facility surveys such as the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and Harmonized Health facility assessments. These surveys collect comprehensive data on MNCAH indicators, including mortality, nutrition, immunization and service utilization and coverage, helping countries assess progress towards health goals and identify areas for improvement.

Measuring quality of care in service delivery is essential for ensuring that health systems are not only expanding access services but also delivering care that can improve health outcomes and patient experiences. High-quality care must be safe, effective, timely, efficient, equitable, and people centred. Without robust and systematic measurement, it is challenging to determine whether health services meet these standards, to identify areas of improvement, or hold health systems accountable. WHO has developed a comprehensive suite of technical guidance and measurement tools to support the implementation and institutionalization of quality of care measurement, targeting various actors across all levels of the health system.

• Guidance on quality of care measurement for the purpose of improving care: WHO has developed a technical guide on how to select, track and analyze quality of care indicators to drive healthcare improvement. This guide also highlights essential system-level actions to support effective quality of care measurement, including how to assess and strengthen health information systems for monitoring priority quality of care indicators, improve data quality, and build the capacity of key actors in quality improvement measurement. Aimed at frontline health workers, programme managers, and policymakers, the guide is a valuable resource for embedding quality of care measurement into routine service delivery and data systems. The guide also contains a list of core quality of care indicators for maternal, newborn, and child health.
• Health information system landscape assessment tool: This Microsoft Excel tool, developed by WHO, is designed for country-level stakeholders to comprehensively map their health information system (HIS). It helps assess the feasibility of collecting, reporting, and using priority quality of care indicators across different programme areas. The tool also captures key details about the various data collection instruments within the HIS, offering insight into how these tools are connected and organized, including the flow of data from its source through to storage and use. A critical part of the HIS mapping process is identifying which components of the local HIS currently include or lack data for specific technical areas, informing necessary adaptations to incorporate missing quality of care indicators.
• Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response (MPDSR): MPDSR is a key tool for identifying and reviewing maternal and perinatal deaths. It helps health systems identify causes of mortality and implement corrective actions to prevent future deaths. By using this tool, MNCAH programmes can systematically measure and enhance the quality of care, leading to better health outcomes.
• WHO Safe Childbirth Checklist: This checklist is a practical tool to improve maternal and newborn care during childbirth. It includes evidence-based practices for critical moments in labour and delivery, such as hygiene, newborn resuscitation, and early breastfeeding. The checklist reduces avoidable complications and improves care outcomes.

WHO offers several key guidance tools for the monitoring, analysis and use of data to support MNCAH programmes. These tools enable health systems to track progress, evaluate interventions and make data-driven decisions to improve health outcomes.

• Guidance and resources to strengthen health information systems: WHO emphasizes the importance of robust health information systems for continuous data collection on MNCAH indicators. National routine health information systems facilitate real-time monitoring of service delivery, outcomes, resource allocation, and programme planning. These systems help countries track their progress towards global health goals, such as the Sustainable Development Goals. WHO has developed guidance and capacity strengthening materials on monitoring, analysis and interpretation of data help MNCAH managers at all levels of the health system to improve data use. This suite of resources include a guidance document to define routine facility-based indicators for MNCAH, an Excel indicator mapping tool, presentation materials and an associated exercise book, along with a facilitation guide for capacity strengthening workshops.
  
• Modelling tools: For example, Lives Saved Tool (LiST) is a modelling tool used to estimate the impact of scaling up specific MNCAH interventions. It helps programme planners predict how changes in intervention coverage will affect maternal and child mortality, guiding resource allocation and intervention prioritization.
• Inequality monitoring tools: Monitoring inequalities is an important part of efforts to promote equity.  One example of guidance is Inequality Monitoring in sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health is a step-by-step manual to strengthen and build capacity for quantitative inequality monitoring in SRMNCAH. Applying the five steps of health inequality monitoring to the topic of SRMNCAH, the manual outlines the processes of: (1) determining the scope of monitoring; (2) deciding upon the best available data; (3) performing data analysis; (4) reporting findings; and (5) translating knowledge into action.
• Surveillance: Surveillance is the continuous, systematic collection, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of data needed for the planning, implementation and evaluation of public health actions. Some examples are public health surveillance system, indicator-based surveillance, disease surveillance system, demographic surveillance system, and others.  A specific example for maternal and newborn health would be Birth Defects Surveillance.

These tools support evidence-based decision-making, ensuring that MNCAH interventions are effectively monitored and continuously improved.