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Background: Kangaroo mother care (KMC) is an evidence-based intervention with large protective effects on neonatal mortality and morbidity, especially among small babies. Despite the available evidence, KMC adoption, implementation and scale-up has lagged. The purpose of this paper is to inform current and future KMC implementation by identifying achievements and challenges in countries that are in the process of scaling up KMC., Methods: We collected and analyzed information to track the status of facility-based KMC in countries identified by the KMC Acceleration Partnership. We assessed the status of the scale-up in six priority countries (Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria and Rwanda in Africa, and Bangladesh and India in Asia) for three periods: 2014 and prior, 2015-2017 and 2017-2019 across six strategic areas: national policy, country implementation, research, knowledge management, monitoring and evaluation and advocacy. We collected information through in-depth interviews with key participants, quantitative data extraction from the Demographic Health Survey and secondary data extraction from policies, briefs, program reports and other documents., Results: Progress in terms of national policy and advocacy appeared to occur quite quickly and evenly across the six priority countries, despite being at different stages during the first assessment. In the areas of country implementation support and research, progress occurred more slowly and results were more variable across countries. It was noted that the number of health facilities offering KMC services increased in all six priority countries, but coverage of KMC was difficult to estimate, demonstrating the ongoing challenges in the area of monitoring and evaluation despite progress made in integrating KMC indicators into national health information systems in five countries. Among the six priority countries - Malawi and Bangladesh had fully achieved at least four the first time six conditions were introduced., Conclusions: We documented notable achievements in the dimensions of policy and country implementation across the six countries, which were likely driven by government engagement to prioritize newborn care services and the promotion of KMC as a core intervention for small babies. We noted challenges in critical areas such as ambulatory KMC, follow-up, and monitoring and evaluation. Addressing these gaps while securing funding to allocate human resources adequately, promoting acceptance of KMC for demand creation and facilitating the use of data for decision making will be vital to ensure effective coverage at scale., Competing Interests: Competing interests: The authors have completed the ICMJE Unified Competing Interest form (available on request from the corresponding author) and declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 by the Journal of Global Health. All rights reserved.)

Background: Program managers require feasible, timely, reliable, and valid measures of iCCM implementation to identify problems and assess progress. The global iCCM Task Force developed benchmark indicators to guide implementers to develop or improve monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems., Objective: To assesses Ethiopia's iCCM M&E system by determining the availability and feasibility of the iCCM benchmark indicators., Methods: We conducted a desk review of iCCM policy documents, monitoring tools, survey reports, and other rele- vant documents; and key informant interviews with government and implementing partners involved in iCCM scale-up and M&E., Results: Currently, Ethiopia collects data to inform most (70% [33/47]) iCCM benchmark indicators, and modest extra effort could boost this to 83% (39/47). Eight (17%) are not available given the current system. Most benchmark indicators that track coordination and policy, human resources, service delivery and referral, supervision, and quality assurance are available through the routine monitoring systems or periodic surveys. Indicators for supply chain management are less available due to limited consumption data and a weak link with treatment data. Little information is available on iCCM costs., Conclusion: Benchmark indicators can detail the status of iCCM implementation; however, some indicators may not fit country priorities, and others may be difficult to collect. The government of Ethiopia and partners should review and prioritize the benchmark indicators to determine which should be included in the routine M&E system, especially since iCCMdata are being reviewed for addition to the HMIS. Moreover, the Health Extension Worker's reporting burden can be minimized by an integrated reporting approach.