Maternal and child health-interested individuals and groups have lately expressed a great amount of concern over the lack of progress made towards the Millennium Development Goals, which are set to be reached by 2015. Failure to take action and meet the goals will result in the preventable deaths of 4 million children and 780,000 adults each year. This includes the half a million women who die annually in pregnancy or childbirth.

In response, this past September, the Partnership for Maternal, Child, and Newborn Health (PMNCH) announced a new initiative meant to accelerate progress towards the achievement of Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5, which focus on reducing child mortality and improving maternal health respectively. The PMNCH is an international alliance of over 280 governments, donors, NGOs, health care professionals, and academics. Its mission is “to support the global health community to work successfully towards achieving MDGs 4 and 5 by advocating for national, regional and global political commitments, and by raising funds to reduce maternal and child mortality.”

The initiative sets out a framework which will prevent the deaths of one million women from pregnancy and childbirth-related complications, and save the lives of 4.5 million newborn babies and 6.5 million children under the age of 5 before 2015. Following its guidelines will also reduce by over one-third the rate of chronic malnutrition in children age 12 to 23 months.

The global initiative consists of five pillars that list the priority actions that are needed to accelerate progress on the relevant MDGs. They are:

1.    Political leadership and community engagement
2.    Evidence based interventions delivered through effective health systems
3.    The removal of barriers to access, including financial costs to women and children
4.    Skilled and motivated health workers
5.    Accountability for results

The initiative calls for $30 billion in additional funding over the next six years, with annual costs ranging from $2.5 billion in 2009 to $5.5 billion in 2015. Governments will need to fulfill their prior funding commitments as well as generate new funds to make up the difference, but as Flavia Bustreo, Director of PMNCH explained, “the lives of millions of women and children depend on it, and the Partnership is committed to holding leaders accountable.”

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