Bringing quality reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health care closer to the community

Reliefweb
Apr 04, 2022

Bringing quality reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health care closer to the community


The Ministry of Health and Social Services with support from World Health Organization (WHO) and funding from the Government of Japan concluded a one-year project to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health services. The programme was implemented against the backdrop where COVID-19 threatened the country’s ability to meet its target to reduce maternal mortality from 385 (NDHS 2013) to at least 200 per 100,000 live births by 2021/22 and to reduce newborn mortality from 20 to 10 per 1,000 live births by 2021/22.

Globally, every day, approximately 800 women and 6 700 babies lose their lives due to preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. In addition, nearly 5 400 babies are stillborn daily, with 40% of these deaths occurring in relation to labour and childbirth. Almost all maternal deaths (99%) occur in developing countries. More than half of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa.