Management Sciences for Health (MSH)

As a member of InterAction, an alliance comprised of more than 180 organizations, Management Sciences for Health (MSH) is excited to announce our participation and support of their newly launched NGO Aid Map.

The NGO Aid Map aims to increase the amount of publicly available data on international development and humanitarian response by providing detailed project information through interactive maps and data visualizations. In addition to highlighting where and how development dollars are being spent, the NGO Aid Map also encourages transparency, provides context on project data, and serves as a tool to education the world about the work of US non-governmental organizations (NGOs). With data that is searchable by country, sector, organization, and donor, this map is a great way for the public to gain a better perspective of the work of NGOs around the world.

Management Sciences for Health (MSH) staff presenting at the Global Maternal Health Conference in Arusha, Tanzania, January 15-17, 2013. (Photo credits: C. Lander & J. Briggs / MSH)

Every child deserves a fifth birthday. It seems simple enough. But for many children in the world — especially in countries with the highest burden of child mortality, such as India, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Pakistan and Ethiopia — preventable deaths will claim their lives, before they reach the age of five.

Today, USAID launched an ongoing child survival awareness campaign, called, “Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday.”

The “5th Birthday” campaign kicked off with a briefing event at Kaiser Family Foundation, featuring USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah and other experts. Dr. Shah and colleagues stressed that reducing the burden of child mortality is critical to our future as a global community.

While the global community has made great strides reducing child mortality, inequality in child mortality remains: several regions and countries continue to shoulder the greatest burden and loss of life.

Suzanna Ile, a 26-year-old woman from South Sudan, lost her first two babies in childbirth. Suzanna did not have a nurse or midwife to tell her that her pelvis was dangerously small for childbirth; nor was there a safe place for a caesarian section even if she had known the risk.

Suzanna’s experience is typical of what women have faced in South Sudan, the newest country in the world. South Sudan is home to 10 million people, spread across an area about the size of France. The people have experienced civil war off and on for five decades --- hardly anyone remembers a time without conflict. In places like the capital city of Juba, the infrastructure has been seriously damaged. The conflicts have devastated the economy and disrupted the education system.

South Sudan has some of the worst health indicators in the world. Health facilities are grossly understaffed as health workers fled the country: only ten percent of staff positions are appropriately filled. There are less than two doctors for every 100,000 people. A woman in South Sudan is five-hundred-times more likely to lose her life giving birth than a woman in Europe. Forty-five percent of children suffer from physical stunting due to malnutrition.