Accelerating the pace of maternal and child survival efforts in USAID priority countries

As part of its maternal and child survival efforts, USAID supports work in 25 priority countries that account for more than two-thirds of the world’s child and maternal deaths. The USAID 2017 Acting on the Call progress report stated that by focusing on building strong and resilient health systems, USAID can save the lives of 5.6 million children and 260,000 women by 2020. These approaches rely on improving eighteen Accelerator Behaviors, identified for their potential to hasten the decline of child and maternal deaths.

ACCELERATE (2015-2020) works with USAID health teams and stakeholders in priority countries to align health programming using behavioral outcomes to maximize investments and accelerate impact. The key objectives of the ACCELERATE project are to:

1. Increase Agency-and Mission-level support for integrating Accelerator Behaviors into health portfolios
2. Enhance the designand management of health programs using the Behavioral Integration Guidance throughout the program cycle
3. Improve trackingand measurement of Accelerator Behaviors
4. Provide technical assistance to Missions on an as needed basis.