Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)

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Active work groups:

• Methods and Studies

Active projects:

• Malaria Control Policy Assessment Project

Evaluations

IHME is working to expand the evidence base about what works and what does not in health programs and interventions by conducting evaluations of their impact and by developing new analytical methods to produce the best possible data.

Proven interventions can lead to improvements in population health only if they reach those who need them. Donors and governments are spending development dollars on programs for delivering health services without knowing which programs are effective. Undertaking scientific research on new and innovative health care delivery models and subjecting health programs to rigorous monitoring and evaluation is essential for building the evidence base for successful health care delivery and health system strengthening.

A primary focus in the Evaluations area is on developing new and improved methods to evaluate the impact of a program or intervention based on empirical evidence. There are a number of statistical methods available for evaluating interventions using observational data. By reviewing and testing each method using replications and simulations, IHME researchers are determining the benefits and weaknesses of each to ascertain which methods are best applied to which specific situations.

Another important component of the Evaluations team is conducting impact evaluation to determine what effect, if any, a health program had on a target population. Impact evaluation estimates the effect of the program by creating a suitable comparison or control group similar to those receiving the program in every way except for access to the program. We also plan to evaluate the performance of national health systems for countries that have sufficient data.

Indicators used to track program performance can be classified into measures of inputs, such as financial resources for a program; processes, such as activities initiated to deliver the program; outputs, such as the fraction of the target population eligible for a particular intervention that actually received the intervention; and outcomes, such as the health of the target population. Analyzing the relationship between initial inputs and eventual outputs and/or outcomes helps answer the important question of whether the program had an impact, and if so, the size of that impact.

IHME plans to use our findings to create an easy-to-understand toolkit for researchers in the evaluation field. We aim to increase the quality of information for decision-makers who want to understand the impact of a program or to design a new program with the greatest possible positive impact.

IHME has pledged to undertake one to two impact evaluations every year. While proposed evaluation ideas can come from external organizations or from within the Institute, the IHME Board is responsible for making the final decision about which evaluations IHME undertakes.

For more information, please contact: evaluations@healthmetricsandevaluation.org