Are We Measuring What Matters in Global Health?
Global health generates enormous amounts of data. But are we measuring the things that actually tell us whether health systems and people’s lives are improving?
For years, measurement has often centered on beneficiaries reached, services delivered, and other indicators that are relatively easy to count. Those measures have value, but they can tell an incomplete story. They may reveal little about the quality of care, who is being left behind, whether communities are getting what they actually need, or whether improvements will endure as programs scale.
These questions are becoming more important as the global health funding landscape changes. With fewer resources available, funders, governments, investors, and implementers need evidence that helps them make choices: where to invest, what to scale, what to change, and what to stop doing.
This session will explore the future of measurement and accountability in global health. How can we measure quality and health equity alongside reach? What evidence is actually useful for governments and communities? How can locally relevant data inform funding and policy decisions? And how do we measure whether health system transformation is working as it moves from a promising intervention to meaningful scale?
The goal is not more measurement. It is better measurement: practical, actionable evidence that helps resources move toward what works while keeping community needs and health outcomes at the center.
Discussion Group Leaders
- Nirali Chakraborty is Executive Director at Metrics for Management, improving health services and equity through actionable data, better measurement, and evidence-driven decision-making.
- Tyler Nelson is Co-CEO at Business for Health Solutions, strengthening African health systems by building the capacity of locally led healthcare organizations and mobilizing cross-sector partnerships.
What to Expect
A practical conversation about moving beyond reporting toward measurement that improves decisions. Participants will examine which global health metrics remain useful, what they miss, and how evidence can better connect global commitments with improvements in health systems and outcomes.
The discussion will bring together perspectives from funders, governments, implementers, investors, researchers, and communities to explore what different decision-makers need from data and where measurement systems need to change.
Who This Is For
This session is for global health funders, governments, implementers, investors, researchers, measurement and evaluation practitioners, health system leaders, and organizations working to improve the quality, equity, and scale of health services.
What You Will Get Out of It
- A clearer view of what conventional global health metrics capture and what they miss
- Approaches to measuring quality, equity, and health system transformation
- Ideas for making evidence more useful for funding, policy, and implementation decisions
- Perspectives on keeping locally relevant evidence and community needs at the center
- Practical questions for deciding what is worth measuring as resources become more constrained