About this Collection

presents innovative assessments of the validity of measuring population coverage for interventions in this field. Coverage indicators are widely used to assess whether interventions are reaching women and children in low and middle income countries, particularly through population-based household surveys. This collection of original research articles and reviews shows that while some indicators can be measured accurately, others may not provide valid results and therefore need further investigation and development. The collection explores issues around measurement using household surveys, assessment of health inequalities, consideration of survey error, and the generation of indicators for global monitoring, and presents recommendations for transforming the findings of these and previous studies into better measurement, reporting and interpretation of coverage estimates. Original research includes evaluating prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in four African countries with estimates of community coverage for this indicator, and establishing whether mothers and caregivers can accurately recall diagnosis and treatment of childhood pneumonia in Pakistan and Bangladesh, and of malaria in Zambia. Other research looks at interventions delivered in pregnancy and around delivery in Africa, Latin America and China