[Qualitative study of municipalities' maternal and child health promotion planning]

From 1997, basic maternal and child health services have been provided through municipalities. The ministry of Health and Welfare has requested all municipalities to publish a MCH promotion plan. We conducted a qualitative analysis of important contents of the plans using an evaluation index of original dichotomous variables. Out of 3,256 municipalities, 2,873 developed the plans for MCH promotion. Most of the plans present descriptions of the significance of MCH promotion planning, goals of the plans, problems of current MCH statistics and services, and plans of providing services. The proportion was low for plans which have needs assessment of target population, indicators of evaluation of plans, description of the relationship between objectives and services, importance of objectives, action plans, specific chapter or evaluation of the plan, monitoring of the plan, and plans for informing public of the MCH plan. Therefore, the MCH promotion plans have weaknesses in evaluation and action. The MCH promotion plans of middle sized cities were more likely to have these important contents. We will continue to analyze the processes for producing of excellent MCH promotion plans to extract universal promoting factors for producing MCH promotion plans.