Table 4 Role of Independent evaluation

In Rajasthan, the evaluation partner collected data for 3 time points, i.e., Baseline (Oct’17-Feb’18), Midline (May’18-Sep’18) and Endline (May’19-Sep’19). Based on Midline evaluation assessment, the following corrective actions were undertaken:

• Engaged state for addressing inadequate number of nursing staff in labour rooms by sufficient deployment of staff and initiation of recruitment process of 6,500 new nursing staff

• Fixed accountability of providers and labour room management information system data used for decision-making

• Initiated special pilots to address “sticky practices” like hand-hygiene and post-delivery practices