Success factors for women's and children's health: Policy and programme highlights from 10 fast-track cuontries

There have been substantial achievements towards MDGs 4 and 5 (to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health) from 1990 (the baseline for the MDGs) to 2014. Despite this, every year 6.6 million children under five years of age die (44% as newborns) and 289 000 maternal deaths occur, all from mainly preventable causes. There is a need for evidence on why some low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) do better than others in preventing maternal and child deaths, and on the strategies they use to accelerate progress.

To address this knowledge gap, discussions at the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health Partners’ Forum in 2010, led to a three-year multidisciplinary, multicountry series of studies on Success Factors for Women’s and Children’s Health (hereafter referred to as the Success Factors studies). This document provides the policy and programme highlights from 10 fast-track countries, including: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Lao PDR, Nepal, Peru, Rwanda, and Viet Nam.

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Success factors for women's and children's health: Policy and programme highlights from 10 fast-track cuontries