Credit: Amy Cotter/USAID

Today, 17,000 more children and 700 more women will survive than every day in 1990. This is huge progress, yet significant challenges remain. There are still more than 17,000 children and 800 women dying every day from causes we know how to prevent.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is working with partners to end preventable child and maternal deaths by 2035. In the past two weeks, there have been a number of exciting announcements that contribute to this goal.

Global Financing Facility

Last week, at the UN General Assembly, the World Bank Group, and Governments of Canada, Norway, and the United States announced that they will jumpstart the creation of an innovative Global Financing Facility (GFF) to mobilize support for countries’ plans to bring an end to preventable child and maternal deaths by 2030. The GFF, in support of Every Woman Every Child, will help countries mobilize additional domestic and international resources to scale up and sustain essential health services for women, newborns, children, and adolescents. USAID, on behalf of the United States, will bring its full arsenal of innovative financing mechanisms and public-private partnerships to the collaboration leveraging an additional $200–$400 million in support of this effort.

• Read the World Bank Press release.

Credit: Christine Ennulat for ChildFund International

Three New Awards Announced in Support of Ending Preventable Child and Maternal Deaths

Last week, three new awards were announced that contribute to the Agency goal of Ending Preventable Child and Maternal Deaths by directly targeting significant causes of death among women and children. The awards focus on leading causes of mortality among mothers and newborns, specifically pre-eclampsia/eclampsia, complications from abortion, and prematurity.

• Prevention and treatment of eclampsia and pre-eclampsia will focus on prevention and treatment of pre-eclampsia/eclampsia by expanding high-impact interventions. Pre-eclampsia/eclampsia accounts for 14 percent of maternal deaths globally.
• Post abortion care – family planning award aims to expand postabortion care clients’ access to a range of contraceptive methods, including long-acting reversible contraceptives and permanent methods along with providing immediate life-saving care. Complications from abortion account for 8 percent of maternal deaths.
• Every Preemie: SCALE (Scaling, Catalyzing, Advocating, Learning, and Evidence-Driven) focuses on prevention and management of preterm birth and low birth weight complications, the biggest cause of under-5 mortality and neonatal mortality.

Credit: Lieve Blancquaert

Prevention and elimination of disrespect and abuse during childbirth

USAID endorses a new World Health Organization (WHO) statement that illustrates a commitment to promoting the rights of women and to promoting access to safe, timely, respectful care during childbirth. Across the world, many women experience disrespectful, abusive, or neglectful treatment during childbirth in facilities. These practices can violate women’s rights, deter women from seeking and using maternal health care services, and can have implications for their health and well-being.

• Read the WHO statement on care during pregnancy and childbirth.

Credit: Amy Cotter/USAID

India Newborn Action Plan

The India Newborn Action Plan (INAP), developed in response to the global Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP), was launched in New Delhi, India, on September 18, 2014. Neonatal deaths account for 56 percent of under-5 deaths in India. The national plan outlines a strategy for accelerating the reduction of preventable newborn deaths and stillbirths in India to attain goals of a “single-digit” neonatal mortality rate and a “single digit” stillbirth rate by 2030. The INAP will be implemented within the framework of reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health national strategy that builds on six pillars of intervention packages: preconception and antenatal care, care during labor and childbirth, immediate newborn care, care of healthy newborns, care of small and sick newborns, and care beyond newborn survival.

• Explore the Every Newborn Action Plan website.
• Learn more about the India Newborn Action Plan [PDF, 729KB].