Acting on the Call 2017

ACTING ON THE CALL:

ENDING PREVENTABLE
CHILD & MATERNAL DEATHS

303,000 MOTHERS & 5.9M CHILDREN DIE GLOBALLY EACH YEAR

including over 2.6M newborns who die in their first month and almost 1 million on their first day of life.

OUR GOAL

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SAVE 15M CHILDREN & 600K WOMEN BY 2020

We partner with country governments to apply simple, cost effective programs to improve the health of women and girls around the world in order to foster prosperity and stability around the world. The 2017 Acting on the Call report examines how a focus on core functions of health systems will help accelerate progress to reach this goal.

OUR APPROACH

Icon: woman holding a baby MATERNAL & CHILD HEALTH

Mothers and children play invaluable roles in families, communities, societies, and economies. One million children are left motherless each year, and these children are then less likely to survive childhood.

Since 2008, USAID’s maternal and child survival efforts have saved the lives of 4.6 million children and 200,000 women in 25 priority countries.

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Photo by Saving Mothers Giving Life

Icon: A family FAMILY PLANNING

An estimated 214 million women want to delay or stop childbearing but can’t access contraception. Satisfying the global unmet need for family planning could reduce maternal deaths by 30 percent.

In our priority countries, the percent of demand for family planning satisfied by a modern method has increased from 45% in 2010 to 51% in 2015.

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Photo by USAID Nepal

Icon: A mosquito MALARIA

Approximately 125 million pregnant women annually are at risk of contracting malaria. USAID-supported malaria interventions are implemented to reduce maternal and child mortality.

In countries supported by the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), nationwide surveys show significant declines in mortality rates among children under five, ranging from 18% to 67%

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Photo by President’s Malaria Initiative

Icon: A leaf NUTRITION

Undernutrition leads to stunting, contributing to 45 percent of child deaths. USAID supports country-owned programs to address the root causes of undernutrition and improve futures for mothers and babies.

In 2015 alone, the U.S. Government reached nearly 18 million children globally with nutrition interventions.

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Photo by CFNA

Icon: A drop of liquid WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

Investments in water, sanitation and hygiene empower women, increase productivity and promote gender equality. Every $1 spent on improving sanitation results in an estimated $5 of economic gain.

Since 2014, USAID’s water activities have resulted in more than 4.3 million people with improved access to sanitation facilities.

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Photo by Morgana Wingard

BY THE NUMBERS

USAID'S IMPACT SINCE THE 2012 CALL TO ACTION

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13.1M

health workers trained in maternal and child health and nutrition

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5.9M

women gave birth in a health facility

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6.4M

newborns reached with care after delivery

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69.5M

treatments provided to children for pneumonia and diarrhea

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25.3M

children vaccinated against deadly preventable diseases

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5.6B

liters of water treated for consumption

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27M

women reached with voluntary family planning services, annually

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>12M

children reached with nutrition programs, annually

STORIES

COUNTRY UPDATES

SELECT A COUNTRY

USAID's efforts in maternal and child survival focus on 25 priority countries that account for more than 66% of global maternal and child deaths.

Afghanistan

Funded first ever Demographic and Health Survey, which provides the stakeholders with a baseline of high quality, reliable, nationally representative health, education, women’s empowerment data for future planning

Bangladesh

Through support of the Smiling Sun Network, helped deliver 40,000 babies safely, conducted over 1.6 million antenatal care visits and 275,306 post natal care visits in 2016

Burma

Completed the first-ever Demographic and Health Survey, which will provide detailed data to focus and prioritize reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health efforts.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Produced a newsletter to increase awareness of the Ministry of Health's ongoing reform effort and holding MOH accountable for reforms

Ethiopia

Supported the expansion of community based health insurance from 6.6 million to 11.5 million people, which, at a cost the equivalent of 2 chickens per year, enables more families to access services and prevents catastrophic costs.

Ghana

Worked with the Government to determine the most efficient routes across the country to transport medicines from the regional storehouses to the health facilities and patients.

Haiti

Reached 559,362 children under five with nutrition programs

India

Garnered $6.5 million from high profile philanthropists, corporations and foundations to contribute to 20 high impact, scalable RMNCH+A programs will reach an adolescent population of 6 million with adolescent friendly health clinics

Indonesia

In hospitals supported by USAID, supported nearly 100% achievement of women receiving magnesium sulfate to help stabilize those suffering from pregnancy related high blood pressure and seizures

Kenya

Treated 1.1 million children under-5 with oral rehydration solution for diarrheal disease, which is 40% higher than the annual target

Liberia

Developed an integrated human resource information system to assist the MoH in tracking health workforce and ensures adequate staff to deliver quality health services to women and children.

Madagascar

Protected 11.2 million people from malaria through insecticide treated nets

Mali

Through the Helping Babies Breathe program, trained providers who saved the lives of 13,444 babies who were not breathing at birth

Malawi

Provided scholarships to 620 Malawians pursuing public health studies

Mozambique

Increased access to voluntary family planning by working to include injectable contraceptives and implants into the package of contraceptives available to clients, and influencing policy to allow community health workers to provide injectable contraceptives.

Nepal

Supported to MoH to hire critical staff to deliver quality family planning and maternal health services in hard to reach rural and remote places

Nigeria

Provided basic emergency obstetric and newborn care training for 717 health care workers from October 2015 to September 2016 to increase knowledge and their ability to provide quality, evidence based services

Pakistan

Through training community health workers, reached 2.5 million women with maternal and child health and family planning messages, which resulted in 41,000 referrals to public sector health facilities

Rwanda

Through trainings, increased the use of kangaroo mother care from 28 to 42% in one year and postnatal care from 38 to 45%

Senegal

Supported 964 communities to establish emergency transport systems for women who experience crises during pregnancy and labor and need urgent referral to high level health facilities

South Sudan

Trained health workers and intensified surveillance and community awareness to control cholera and measles outbreaks

Tanzania

Through the Reach Every Child Strategy, reduced the total number of unvaccinated children from 75%, from 11,700 to 3,000 in one year

Uganda

Designed a national communications program to address people's misperceptions about family planning, including fear of side effects and other health concerns

Yemen

Zambia

Disinfected over 305 trillion liters of water, resulting in the reduction of diarrhea and improving overall health

REPORTS & RESOURCES