New global partnership will take immediate action to help women and children survive
For the first time, the world’s leading maternal, newborn and child health professionals have formally joined forces to
step up efforts to achieve the international development goals for child and maternal health. The new partnership marks
a milestone in an intensive and growing global focus on the health of women and children.
While some countries have made progress, at current rates the world is not on track to achieve the 2015 Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) for maternal and child health. Each year, more than half a million women die in pregnancy or
childbirth and nearly 11 million young children die, most of preventable causes. Today, to address this health crisis,
countries and organizations active in maternal, newborn and child health have launched The Partnership for Maternal,
Newborn & Child Health. “If the world is to meet the goals of reducing maternal and under-five mortality by 2015, only a focused,
coordinated effort can bring women, newborns and children the health care they need during pregnancy, delivery, the
early weeks of life and in childhood. By working with countries to increase access to existing health care solutions,
this Partnership has the potential to transform millions of lives and make critical progress," said Dr LEE Jong-wook,
Director-General of the World Health Organization.
The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health will begin immediately to work with national leaders on delivering the much-advocated "continuum of care"
approach to countries. In recent publications including the WHO's World Health Report 2005, The Lancet Child Survival
and Neonatal Series, and the UN Millennium Project's "Who's Got the Power?", leading global health experts agree that
progress begins when a women's health needs are addressed at the same time as her child's.
At the partnership launch event today in New York, Alpha Oumar Konaré, Chairperson, Commission of the African Union
said, “Greater political leadership coupled with increased financial resources are needed at international and national
levels if we are going to meet these goals. Investment in maternal, newborn and child health is not only a priority for
saving lives, but it is also critical to advancing other goals related to human welfare, equity, and poverty reduction.”
Leaders from countries, donor agencies, UN organizations, professional associations, academic institutions, and
non-governmental organizations have joined the partnership.* It is a merger of three existing collaborations focused on
maternal, newborn and child health and will be hosted by the World Health Organization in Geneva.
* The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health unites developing and donor countries, UN agencies, professional associations, academic and research
institutions, foundations, and NGOs to intensify and harmonize national, regional and global progress towards the UN
Millennium Development Goals 4 & 5.
Members include: Academy for Educational Development (AED); Aga Khan University; All India Institute for Medical Science
(AIIMS); Averting Maternal Death and Disability (AMDD); Bangladesh Rural Advancement Commission (BRAC); Basic Support
for Institutionalizing Child Survival (BASICS); Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA); Columbia University; Commonwealth
Secretariat; Council of International Neonatal Nurses (COINN); Department for International Development, UK (DFID);
Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit, Germany (GTZ); Emory University Rollins School of Public Health; Enfants du
Monde, Switzerland; Family Care International (FCI); Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil; Federation of Asia and
Oceania Perinatal Societies (FAOPS); Futures Group; Government of Bangladesh; Government of Bolivia; Government of
Cambodia; Government of Ethiopia; Government of India; Government of Italy; Government of Mozambique; Government of
Nepal; Government of Nigeria; Government of Pakistan; Government of Tanzania; Government of Uganda; Gynuity Health
Projects; Institute of Child Health, International Perinatal Care Unit, UK; International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease
Research, Bangladesh: Centre for Health & Population Research; Initiative for Maternal Mortality Programme Assessment/University of Aberdeen (IMMPACT);
International Association for Maternal and Neonatal Health (IAMNEH); International Confederation of Midwives (ICM);
International Council of Nurses (ICN); International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO); International
Pediatric Association (IPA); International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF); International Union Against TB and Lung
Disease; IntraHealth International, Inc.; Ipas; Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS); JHPIEGO/ACCESS
Project; John Snow International; Johns Hopkins University; Karolinska Institutet, Sweden; Latin America Maternal
Mortality Initiative; London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; Midwifery Society , Royal College of Nursing, UK;
National Committee for Maternal Health, Pakistan; National Institute for Health, Global Maternal and Neonatal Research
Network, US; Nigerian Partnership for Safe Motherhood; Obstetric Fistula Working Group; Population Council; Program for
Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH); Regional Prevention of Maternal Mortality Network, Ghana; Reproductive Health
Response in Conflict Consortium (RHRC); Safe Motherhood Network of Nepal; Save the Children, Saving Newborn Lives
Initiative; Society for Education, Action, and Research in Community Health, India (SEARCH); Society of Obstetricians
and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC); Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA); The Manoff Group; The
Task Force for Child Survival and Development; The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood; The World Bank; United
Nations Children's Found (UNICEF); United Nations Population Found (UNFPA); US Agency for International Development
(USAID); US Coalition for Child Survival; US Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, Department of Reproductive Health (CDC); Women and Children First; Women's Global Health Imperative; Women's
Health and Action Research Centre, Nigeria; World Health Organization (WHO).