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Dear friends,
This year’s Acting on the Call report begins with an inspiring statistic: “In 2017 alone, USAID helped 76 million women and children access essential – and often lifesaving – health services.”
MCSP is proud of the role we’ve played in these efforts – vaccinating children, training health workers, bringing women into well-functioning facilities for delivery – all with the aim of reaching even the most remote and marginalized communities with high-quality care.
Over the past 10 years, USAID’s maternal and child survival efforts have helped save the lives of more than 5 million children and 200,000 women in 25 priority countries. Despite this progress, more than 15,000 children and 830 women still die every day from preventable causes.
If we are to keep the promises we made in the first Acting on the Call report – to truly realize the world we want for our mothers, newborns and children – we must continue strengthening countries’ self-reliance. The day we are successful is the day we are no longer needed!
Until then, there is much work left to do. As we acknowledge a fragile success against the recent Ebola outbreak, the global health community faces a worrying polio outbreak in DR Congo and alarming rise in malaria cases globally. We’re still working to reach the 200+ million women globally who want to avoid pregnancy but are not using reliable contraceptives. This includes women seeking a permanent contraception solution, often to protect the health and financial future of their entire family.
Join us July 18th for a Saving Lives at Birth Twitter chat on innovations for maternal and newborn health. The discussion will focus on improving health for the most vulnerable in the poorest places on earth – please add your voice to the conversation!
Koki Agarwal, MD, MPH, DrPH
Director
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