Barker P, McCannon J. A structured improvement process sustains change in health service delivery and enables future improvement. In Round Table Discussion: Leading a change process to improve health service delivery. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 2006;84:663.

In the fields of health and development, donors channel multiple resources into the design of new resources and technology, as well as small scale programs to test them. But successful practices are rarely scaled up to the level where they beneficially impact, large impoverished nations.

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Massoud R, Askov K, Reinke J, Franco LM, Bornstein T, Knebel E, MacAulay C. A modern paradigm for improving healthcare quality. QA Monograph Series 1. Bethesda, Maryland: US Agency for International Development (USAID) by the Quality Assurance Project; 2001.

This publication describes four approaches to quality improvement: individual problem solving, rapid team problem solving, systematic team problem solving, and performance improvement. Included are various activities and tools used in quality improvement practices.

Zaidi AK, Huskins WC, Thaver D, Bhutta ZA, Abbas Z, Goldmann DA. Hospital-acquired neonatal infections in developing countries. Lancet. 2005 Apr;365(9465):1175-1188.

Babies born in hospitals in developing countries are at increased risk of neonatal infections because of poor infection-control practices. This paper reviews data from developing countries on rates of neonatal infections among hospital-born babies, range of pathogens, antimicrobial resistance, and infection-control interventions. Low-cost, "bundled" interventions using systems quality improvement approaches for improved infection control are possible, but should be supported by evidence in developing country settings.

Epping-Jordan JE, Pruitt SD, Bengoa R, Wagner EH. Improving the quality of health care for chronic conditions. Quality and Safety in Health Care. 2004 Aug;13(4):299-305.

In an effort to battle chronic conditions in health care, the World Health Organization and the MacColl Institute for Healthcare Innovation joined together to interpret the Chronic Care Model (CCM) from a global perspective. The resulting framework, the Innovative Care for Chronic Conditions (ICCC), expands community and policy features of improving health care for chronic conditions and provides a flexible yet comprehensive foundation on which to construct or reshape health systems according to local resources and demands.

Hogan DR, Salomon JA. Prevention and treatment of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome in resource-limited settings. Bull World Health Organization. 2005 Feb;83(2):135-143.

This paper presents a summary of the debate over varying global responses to the prevention and treatment of the HIV/AIDS epidemic as well as evidence on several interventions designed to prevent the spread of HIV infection, including voluntary counselling and testing, treatment for sexually transmitted infections and prevention of mother-to-child transmission. Current antiretroviral therapy response rates and survival rates are discussed along with adherence, drug resistance, behavioural change and epidemiological impact. 

Barker PM, McCannon J, Venter WDF, Mmbara NW. Managing HIV as a chronic disease: Using interactive data collection to improve clinical care. The Southern African Journal of HIV Medicine. 2004 Nov:7-11.

As South Africa and the rest of the developing world respond to the AIDS crisis, a critical task will be to develop scalable systems for sustainable and effective delivery of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs in a variety of resource-restricted settings. The authors consider how ARV allows us to manage HIV/AIDS as a chronic disease, and the data systems that are required to support this approach to therapy.

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Berwick DM. A learning world for the Global Fund. British Medical Journal. 2002;325(7355):55-56.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria can multiply its chances of success through decentralisation and creating and supporting a learning world, in which skills, information, and designs for the continual improvement of the prevention and treatment of these diseases are freely exchanged and actively spread within and among all nations.  The proposed programme includes four components: building capacity, supporting action, documenting and improving system designs, and spreading knowledge.

Berwick DM. Lessons from developing nations on improving health care. British Medical Journal. May 2004;328(7448):1124-1129.

Reviews examples of health care improvement in developing nations. The hypothesis is that resource-poor nations can provide ideas and inspiration to wealthier nations. Examples are from Russia and Peru.  Key lessons are to keep target and measurement processes simple and to make full use of teams.

An approach to rapid scale-up: Using HIV/AIDS treatment and care as an example. World Health Organization; 2004.

This white paper, co-authored by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), describes how health care providers in resource-poor settings (and particularly in the developing world) can apply operations research principles and collaborative improvement methodology to introduce and rapidly spread health care interventions. The authors situate their description in the context of efforts to scale up antiretroviral (ARV) treatment for AIDS and cite several examples from work in developing nations.