putting women and children first

This is the last in a series of four stories about how strong health systems improve the health of women and children. It was originally published on Global Health Now's website.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has a chance to save millions of children with an inexpensive grassroots community effort.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a country beleaguered by years of civil war, official corruption and mismanagement, and civil apathy, the path to building a strong health system is challenging. One initiative, focused on building up community-level care, has shown success—but without more support from the Congolese government, it might not continue.

 The USAID-funded Integrated Health Project (IHP) aims to increase the availability of health services for the most vulnerable people in the country, which has one of the world’s highest rates of child mortality (the top killers include malaria, diarrhea, and pneumonia). IHP has focused on interventions ranging from simple—handwashing, breastfeeding—to more complex, such as tuberculosis care, financial management, medication distribution, etc.

This is the third in a series of four stories about how strong health systems improve the health of women and children. 

Every day, approximately 830 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, and 99 percent of them live in developing countries, according to the World Health Organization. Many of these women – and their babies – could be saved with medicines. However, access to these medicines is often limited in the countries where they are most needed. Sheena Patel, a technical advisor for the MSH-led, USAID-funded Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals and Services (SIAPS) project, talks about the program's work in helping to improve access to essential medicines. This story was originally published on the SIAPS website February 23. 

MSH: The health of women and children is critical to the overall health and prosperity of a country—and the world. Can you talk a bit about why?

This is the second in a series of four stories about how strong health systems improve the health of women and children.

Nine countries, with support from the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and other partners, launched the Network for Improving Quality of Care for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health last week.

The new Network aims to improve the quality of care that mothers and babies receive in health facilities while supporting countries in achieving their targets agreed under the Sustainable Development Goals to end preventable maternal and newborn deaths. 

Despite remarkable progress in improving access to health services proven to reduce maternal and newborn deaths, every year worldwide, 303,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth, 2.7 million babies die during the first 28 days of life, and 2.6 million babies are stillborn. Most of these deaths could be prevented with quality care during pregnancy and childbirth.

However, the provision of care is uneven within and between countries, and often fails to respect the rights and dignity of those who seek it.

This is the first in a series of four stories about how strong health systems improve the health of women and children.

Last year, we shared with you stories of the people we work alongside all over the world. We introduced you to Aster Amanuel Desalegn, a 70 year-old woman from Ethiopia who relies on her town's public hospital for her diabetes medication. You met Linvell Nkhoma, a midwife manager in Malawi who lives on the hospital premises so she can be on call 24 hours per day. And you heard from Animata Bassama, a representative from a community in Mali that worked with MSH to open a center providing a safe space for gender-based violence survivors to seek medical and psychosocial care.