Monitoring and evaluation of relief programmes

Information is power. Every major relief programme of the past 15 years has shown that facts and figures are an indispensable tool for health staff. A simple graph of daily mortality rates can work miracles: mobilize human and material resources, focus the attention of decision-makers, guide and refine the assistance programme that is being put in place. If you want useful data, look at these five areas: (i) mortality; (ii) incidence of the most important diseases; (iii) nutritional status; (iv) 'activities data', such as immunizations performed; and (v) the 'vital sectors', namely food, water, sanitation, shelter, etc. The most effective way of presenting information is graphically, so that anyone can see at a glance the trend from month to month. Finally, there are two golden rules. Always give feedback to the workers out in the field who are the primary source of information. And secondly, always act upon information: if your statistics do not lead to concrete action, you are probably better off not collecting them at all.