22 September, New York
Nepal, the front runner in thriving maternal health, has joined the ambitious global initiative to save the lives of more than 16 million women and children by 2015.While contributing that initiative Nepal has committed to improve its maternal and child health system, nutrition programs to an unprecedented level and ensure those services reach the largest portion of have-nots.
The initiative ” Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health” led by the Secretary General of the United Nations, is a roadmap that identifies the finance and policy changes needed as well as critical interventions that can and do improve health and save lives. The initiative launched Wednesday amidst a special event culminating the global summit on Millennium Development Goals MDGs, also witnessed a pledge of over $40 billion in resources for women’s and children’s health from the stakeholders. Nepal along with 36 countries and many international and humanitarian organizations have pledged to contribute fund and increase the investment in maternal and child health.
Nepal has committed to recruit, train and deploy 10,000 additional skilled birth attendants, fund free maternal health services among hard-to-reach populations. It has ensured at least 70 percentage of primary health care centers offer emergency obstetric care.
Nepal has also committed to double the coverage of Preventing Mother to Child Transmission of HIV [PMTCT], reduce unmet need for family planning to 18 percentage, including by making family planning services more adolescent friendly and encouraging public-private partnerships to raise awareness and increase access and utilization. Furthermore it has pledged to work to improve child health and nutrition rolling out the Community based Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses Program from 27 districts to all 75 districts in the country maintaining deforming and micro nutrient supplementation coverage at over 90 percentage and implementing effective nutrition interventions using the innovative programs such as cash transfers to pregnant and lactating women and other community based interventions.
This global effort aims to prevent the deaths of more than 15 million children under five, 33 million unwanted pregnancies and 740,000 women from dying from complications relating to pregnancy and childbirth. It has also set its target to protect a further 88 million children under five from stunting and 120 million from pneumonia.