We’re supporting the following strategies to ensure that mothers and their infants around the world survive and remain healthy:
Develop and deliver solutions to address the causes of deaths during pregnancy and childbirth
The most common killers of women during pregnancy and childbirth are high blood pressure, infection, uncontrolled bleeding, and obstructed labor. Serious infections and complications of prematurity and birth asphyxia are the major killers of newborns. We’re engaged in efforts to develop and deliver health solutions that can prevent and treat all of these conditions. These solutions include simplified drug treatments for managing infections among women and babies.
Increase demand and improve health practices
Though many promising interventions exist to reduce the deaths of women and newborns, families and communities often cannot access these for a variety of cultural, financial, and societal reasons. For these interventions to succeed, mothers and families need to know and understand them and be able to afford them. We’re supporting efforts to identify any barriers to accessing improved health practices and creating solutions to address these barriers.
Enhance frontline workers’ capabilities and performance
Frontline workers—individuals ranging from qualified medical professionals to private drug sellers, community health workers, and skilled birth attendants—are typically a client’s first point of contact with the health system and deliver the majority of care to mothers and newborns. Given their importance in ensuring quality care of women and children, we’re focused on enhancing their capabilities and performance through continuous professional learning and the use of innovative tools.
Advocate for more supportive policies and financing
Globally, there is a shortage of funding to address the health of women and infants in the developing world. Additionally, policies and strategies that enable countries to deliver critical health interventions are lacking. We’re engaged in efforts to increase access to policies and strategies and additional funding for developing and delivering new tools to save lives.
Extend efforts beyond the neonatal period to young children
To ensure the long-term health of children, we’re supporting efforts to ensure that systems are in place to facilitate regular interactions between frontline workers and families from birth throughout childhood. This will ensure that children will receive effective interventions such as immunizations and nutritional counseling.