Mr. Alvarez, the Regional Family Planning Manager, opened a large envelope that had just been delivered from the central office. It contained the results of a mini family planning survey which a team from the local university had conducted in his region a month earlier for the Family Planning Division of the Ministry of Health. Attached was a letter from the Director of Service Statistics, saying that the survey showed a significantly lower contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) than was indicated by the most recent regular service statistics, which were already a year old. Mr. Alvarez decided to call a meeting of all the clinic managers in his region to find out why there was such a discrepancy between the service statistics and the mini survey results.
Mr. Alvarez opened the meeting by describing the survey findings to the clinic managers. "The survey found that the contraceptive prevalence rate for this area is 27 percent," Mr. Alvarez began, "but our service statistics last year calculated the CPR to be 43 percent. Does anyone have any ideas as to why the difference between the two is so great? What problems have you noticed with the service statistics system?"
"Perhaps the problem is that the people who fill out the forms don't know how to do it correctly," said Mrs. Garcia, one of the managers. "I have often heard complaints form the people in my office who compile the information that the forms are not filled in correctly. Information is written in the wrong places or they don't use the standard terminology in filling them out, so some information is lost."
"On some of my field visits," Mrs. Torruella said, "I have heard people complain that it takes a long time to fill in the forms, and they don't know why they have to do it or what the information is used for. I get the feeling that many of them think that the forms are too complicated, and they don't seem to care about filling them out carefully. They see it as a big chore, and they don't seem to understand the importance of submitting the forms on time."
Mr. Perez then said, "When I asked that they start collecting information on complications and side effects of the contraceptives the program offers, the clinic staff really complained. They said that they didn't have enough time as it was to collect the information, and they didn't see why it was really necessary."
"Well," said Mr. Alvarez, "We seem to have several problems here. It seems that the information we have been collecting is not very accurate or complete, and it is certainly always late. The survey has revealed that are statistics are not accurate. Both the survey and our service statistics show that the number of new family planning users has increased in recent years, but apparently we have not been doing a good job of collecting and analyzing information on the people who stop using family planning. Because the survey's figures are lower than ours, it makes it look as though our program is not doing a good job. We must make our service statistics system accurate so that this won't happen again.
"You have indicated that the people who collect and compile the information don't see why it is important," Mr. Alvarez continued. "I think you all need to meet with your program staff and try to help them to understand why it is so important that the information they collect be accurate and complete. If it is not accurate or complete, we as managers won't have a good understanding of how well the program is doing, and we won't be able to set good targets or to know whether the targets have really been met. It is also very important that the information be turned in and analyzed on time. If the only information we have to work with is a year old, we won't have an accurate picture of the current situation. We need updated information so that we can make informed decisions about planning programs and assigning funds. The program staff need to understand why it is important to do a good job collecting this information in order to take it seriously and do it well. Also, make sure to let them know when they are doing a good job. This will help them to feel that this is an important part of their work and that their good work is really appreciated."