Page 22 - npqh NATIONAL POLICY FOR QUALITY IN HEALTHCARE : Bridging Silos, Accelerating Improvements 2022-2026

National Policy for Quality in Healthcare
Bridging Silos, Accelerating Improvements

1.0 Introduction

1.1 National Quality Policy and Strategy (NQPS) Within
the Global Context

Quality is central to healthcare service delivery. In Target 3.8, the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDG) state clearly that to achieve universal health coverage,
including financial risk protection, people must have access to quality essential health-
care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines
and vaccines for all. The WHO states that Universal Health Coverage (UHC) means
“Ensuring that all people and communities can use the promotive, preventive, curative,
rehabilitative and palliative health services they need, of sufficient quality to be
effective, while also ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the user to
financial hardship”.

In 2018, three Global Quality Reports (1–3) were published that highlighted three key
themes affirming quality as central to UHC;
Theme 1: Poor quality of care imperils global efforts to achieve SDG.
Theme 2: Health systems need to measure outcomes and what matters most to
people.
Theme 3: Assuring-and improving-the quality of care requires system-wide action:
a shared vision of quality, a coordinated quality strategy, continuous
learning, and a clear structure of accountability.

Through these reports, a call was made for high-level action by key constituencies for
quality in health care, which emphasised the role of all governments, health systems,
citizen and patients, the top priority being the possession of a national quality policy
and strategy.

In recognition of this need, the World Health Organization published a practical
handbook for developing National Quality Policy and Strategy (4) in healthcare to help
provide guidance for countries wishing to develop their very own national quality
policy and strategy. The NQPS is defined in the WHO Handbook as an organised effort
by a country to promote and plan for improved quality of care, outlined in a document
and providing an official, explicit statement of the approach and actions required to
enhance the quality of healthcare across a country’s health system.

Reasons cited as motivating factors for addressing healthcare quality include suboptimal
of care in the face of increasing burden of illness and the rising healthcare costs globally.

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