Celebrating One Year Since the 2015 Global Maternal Newborn Health Conference

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By: Sarah Hodin, MPH, CD(DONA), LCCE, National Senior Manager of Maternal Newborn Health Programs, Steward Health Care

GMNHC 2015Exactly one year has passed since the 2015 Global Maternal Newborn Health Conference, an event organized by the Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF) in collaboration with USAID’s flagship Maternal and Child Survival Program, Saving Newborn Lives at Save the Children and other partners. Researchers, policymakers, funders, implementers and other stakeholders from around the world gathered in Mexico City to share new evidence, identify knowledge and implementation gaps, build inter-disciplinary consensus and discuss strategies for integrating and improving global maternal newborn health.

Conference participants proposed ten critical actions necessary to create momentum for maternal newborn health:


  1. Political leadership should act on strong scientific evidence and empower the public.
  2. Global and national health communities must integrate strategies, services and funding streams.
  3. Reaching the most vulnerable, including adolescents, is an urgent priority.
  4. Maternal newborn survival efforts should improve maternal morbidities, stillbirths and child development.
  5. Increasing investments to improve quality of maternal newborn health services is necessary.
  6. Providers have an obligation to treat women with compassion and respect.
  7. Universal access to integrated sexual and reproductive health care is essential.
  8. Addressing gaps in measurement, information and accountability is key for assessing progress.
  9. Sharing success in maternal newborn health is an opportunity to strengthen health programs.
  10. Supporting all providers, especially midwives, is imperative.

Did you miss the conference? Videos of many of the sessions are available for you to watch online:

Welcome Event | Julio Frenk, Christopher Elias, Pablo Kuri Morales, Ariel Pablos-Méndez, Geeta Rao Gupta

Opening Ceremony | Ana Langer, Mercedes Juan López, Melinda Gates, Babatunde Osotimehin

Keynote Address | Hans Rosling

The Next Frontier: Approaches to Advance the Quality of Maternal Newborn Health Care | Ana Langer, Richard Horton, Fernando Althabe, Address Malata, Mouzinho Saide, Vinod Paul

Benefiting Mothers and Newborns through Integrated Care | Koki Agarwal, Zulfiqar Bhutta, Joy Lawn, Nosa Orobaton, Jane Otai, Pronita Rani Raha, José Villar

Addressing Equity and Reaching the Most Vulnerable Mothers and Newborns | Joy Riggs-Perla, Alain Damiba, Carolyn Miles, Anuradha Gupta, Cesar Victora, Alicia Ely Yamin

FAIL: First Attempt in Learning – Learning from What Doesn’t Work in Maternal and Newborn Health | Katja Iversen, Priya Agarawal, Sharad Agarwal, France Donnay, Margaret Kruk, Richard Horton

Measurement and Accountability: Better Data for Better Decision Making | Robert Clay, Muhammad Baharuddin, Agbessi Amouzou, Shams El Arifeen, Peter Waiswa

Funding for Impact: Global Financing for Maternal and Newborn Health | Katie Taylor, Ariel Pablos-Méndez, Roberto Tapia Conyer, Dinesh Nair, Mariam Claeson, Charles Mwansambo

Closing Ceremony | Mary Nell Wegner, Mary Kinney, Katja Iversen, Mary Mwanyika-Sando, Koki Agarwal, Joy Riggs-Perla, Ana Langer

 

Watch experts share their insights from GMNHC 2015 and ideas for next steps in maternal newborn health | Global Maternal Newborn Health: Current Progress and Future Directions

News stories from GMNHC 2015:

UN set new targets to protect more moms, babies
CCTV America | June 2016

Gates, Slim target maternal, newborn health in Central America
Michael O’Boyle, Reuters | October 2015

Are we winning against maternal and infant mortality?
Azad Essa, Al Jazeera | October 2015

Q&A: Mother-infant health progress requires no magic
Azad Essa, Al Jazeera | October 2015

Melinda Gates’ keys to leadership (Las claves de Melinda Gates para el liderazgo)
CNN TV | October 2015

Melinda Gates: Still work to do in maternal, newborn health
Christopher Sherman, Associated Press | October 2015

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