Collective Action to Advance the Health of Women and Newborns - 2011 Progress Report

The Alliance represents a collaborative effort by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), the UK's Department for International Development (DFID), the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Alliance aims to accelerate progress in achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5, which focus on reducing child mortality and improving reproductive and maternal health. The Alliance's first year of operation focused on forging effective partnerships and improving reproductive health and family planning programs in ten high-need countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. These countries account for about 68 percent of unmet need for family planning worldwide, 54 percent of all maternal deaths, and 56 percent of all neonatal mortality. The Alliance worked closely with governments and other partners to improve access to reproductive health care and family planning in these countries. In Bangladesh, the Alliance helped the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare develop a five-year plan for health-sector programs and an urban health strategy. In India, the Alliance is working in four states to increase access to and use of modern family planning in the private sector. In Ethiopia, the Alliance advanced the Government of Ethiopia's Health Sector Development Plan IV, which aims to reduce maternal and child mortality through behavior change strategies and improved access to health services. The Alliance also focused on coordinated implementation and joint funding. In Nepal, the Alliance supported training for more than 750 birth attendants, contributing to increases in deliveries by skilled health workers. In Nigeria, the Alliance will partner to develop an innovative contraceptive supply system that uses a self-replenishing, revolving fund. In Pakistan, the Alliance helped increase the number of trained community midwives from 2,795 in 2010 to 7,764 in 2011. The Alliance also worked on joint problem-solving. In Ethiopia, the Alliance members and others worked with manufacturers to reduce the price of reproductive health commodities, making more women have access to contraceptive implants and saving the government an estimated US$2 million per year. In Nigeria, the Ministry of Health eliminated fees for contraceptives in public-sector facilities and pledged US$4 million to procure contraceptives through the United Nations Population Fund. The Alliance's progress at the headquarters level was marked by establishing productive partnerships among the four large, complex organizations with different structures and operational approaches. The Alliance partners worked together to create the overarching goals, implementation approach, structure, and metrics for the partnership. They also collaborated on a number of international events and opportunities to improve reproductive, maternal, and newborn health. The Alliance aims to contribute to several targets by 2015, including 100 million additional users of modern methods of family planning, 67 million more women giving birth with the help of skilled attendants, and 80 million more infants exclusively breastfed through the age of six months. The Alliance is already working toward these targets in ten focus countries: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Uganda.