2014 Partners' Forum
30 JUNE - 1 JULY | Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa
Session 2D: Countdown to 2015: Fulfilling the health agenda for women and children
The Countdown to 2015 session moderated by Dr. Mickey Chopra, Chief of Health, UNICEF and Co-Chair of Countdown, presented some of the findings related to the new 2014 Countdown report and preliminary results from several Countdown in-depth case studies.
Building off of Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta’s keynote speech during plenary two, Ms. Holly Newby, UNICEF, described in more detail the indicators included on the Countdown country profiles, prepared for each of the 75 Countdown countries where more than 95% of all maternal, newborn and child deaths occur. Her presentation was followed by Mr. Giovanny Araujo, Federal University of Pelotas, who gave an overview of the equity analyses included in the Countdown 2014 report and the equity profiles prepared biannually for the Countdown countries. He also spotlighted a new report prepared by the Federal University of Pelotas using Countdown methods to showcase progress and challenges in reducing inequities in the Latin American and Caribbean region. Ms Ann Starrs, Family Care International, recapped the significance of the Countdown report for advocacy purposes, and the importance of strong partnerships between the technical and advocacy communities to ensure that the evidence is packaged in ‘user-friendly’ ways, leading to broad uptake and action.
Countdown to 2015 is engaging in a series of in-depth country case studies that use evidence to tell a story about country progress in women’s and children’s health, and produce generalizable lessons about scaling-up RMNCH programs. Honorable Mr. Zahed Maleque, State Minister, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Bangladesh summarized the main messages from the Bangladesh case study published in The Lancet on June 30, 2014, “Maternal Mortality in Bangladesh: A Countdown to 2015 case study”, noting that Bangladesh’s success was due to increases in access to quality health care services coupled with improvements in women’s enrollment in school and income-earning opportunities. Dr. Luis Huicho, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia and National Institute of Child Health, presented preliminary findings of the Peru in-depth case study, showing how improvements in equitable coverage, the introduction of key policy and health system reforms, and changes in key contextual factors have contributed to Peru’s success in reducing maternal, newborn and child mortality. The session was closed by Honorable Ahmad Jan Naeem, Deputy Minister of Afghanistan, who described how Afghanistan has been able to achieve remarkable improvements in maternal, newborn and child health following the devastation of many years of conflict. Other Countdown country case studies underway are in China, Kenya, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Malawi and Tanzania. A policy brief prepared by the Tanzania case study team detailing areas of progress and areas where more efforts must be prioritized for women’s and children’s health was made available to session participants.
Countdown to 2015: Fulfilling the Health Agenda for Women and Children was launched on 30 June at the 2014 Partners’ Forum.