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| Alliance for Maternal and Newborn Health Improvement | |
|---|---|
| Name | Alliance for Maternal and Newborn Health Improvement |
| Formation | 2010s |
| Type | Non-governmental organization |
| Headquarters | Geneva |
| Region served | Global |
| Leader title | Executive Director |
Alliance for Maternal and Newborn Health Improvement is an international non-governmental organization focused on reducing maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality through systems strengthening, workforce development, and quality improvement. The organization operates across low- and middle-income countries in coordination with global health agencies and research institutions. It engages with multilateral institutions, philanthropic foundations, academic centers, and national ministries to translate evidence into scalable interventions.
The Alliance collaborates with World Health Organization, United Nations Children's Fund, United Nations Population Fund, World Bank, and Gavi to align with Sustainable Development Goals and the Every Woman Every Child initiative, while liaising with national actors such as Ministry of Health (Kenya), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (India), Department of Health (Philippines), and National Health Service (England) for policy translation. It partners with academic institutions including Johns Hopkins University, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Makerere University, and University of Cape Town to support implementation research, and with philanthropic organizations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wellcome Trust for funding and technical assistance.
Founded during a series of roundtables convened by World Health Organization and United Nations Children's Fund following the Millennium Development Goals era, the Alliance emerged alongside initiatives such as Every Newborn Action Plan and the Global Strategy for Women's, Children's and Adolescents' Health. Key early meetings included stakeholders from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Clinton Health Access Initiative, Save the Children, and Care International, with advisory input from researchers at Karolinska Institutet and McMaster University. The Alliance was formally incorporated with support from Global Financing Facility and technical partners like PATH and Jhpiego.
The Alliance's mission aligns with targets set by Sustainable Development Goals and the Every Woman Every Child movement: to reduce preventable maternal deaths, stillbirths, and neonatal deaths. Objectives include strengthening World Health Organization guideline adoption at country level, expanding skilled birth attendance in settings served by International Confederation of Midwives and FIGO, improving facility-based quality through models tested by Institute for Healthcare Improvement and QualityRights, and accelerating uptake of interventions promoted by UNFPA and UNICEF.
Programs encompass clinical training, health systems strengthening, implementation research, and advocacy. Training curricula have been developed with partners such as International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and International Pediatric Association. Quality improvement collaboratives draw on methods used by Institute for Healthcare Improvement and EQUIP projects, while monitoring and evaluation use indicators harmonized with Demographic and Health Surveys and the Global Burden of Disease Study. Operational activities include mentorship programs, supply chain strengthening with UNICEF Supply Division, and digital health pilots in collaboration with PATH and Digital Square.
Governance structures include a board with representatives from World Health Organization, United Nations Population Fund, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Save the Children, Clinton Health Access Initiative, and regional bodies such as African Union and ASEAN. Technical advisory groups feature academics from London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Harvard University, University of Oxford, and University of Toronto, and clinical partners like Royal College of Nursing and Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses. Strategic partnerships involve bilateral agencies like United States Agency for International Development, Department for International Development (UK), and European Commission.
Independent evaluations have been commissioned with research teams from Johns Hopkins University, University College London, and Makerere University to assess outcomes against global targets from Every Newborn Action Plan and Every Woman Every Child. Reported impacts include reductions in facility-based maternal mortality ratios in pilot districts, improved newborn resuscitation rates when implementing trainings aligned with Helping Babies Breathe, and strengthened referral systems similar to those advocated by World Health Organization. Evaluations reference metrics from the Global Health Observatory and modeling by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
Funding streams comprise grants and contracts from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, Gavi, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Global Financing Facility, bilateral donors like USAID and DFID, and contributions from corporate partners. Financial stewardship includes audits by international firms and reporting aligned with standards promoted by International Aid Transparency Initiative and OECD development assistance frameworks.
Challenges include translating evidence into sustained policy change in settings influenced by national actors such as Ministry of Health (Nigeria) and Ministry of Health (Ethiopia), workforce shortages highlighted by analyses from World Health Organization, commodity insecurity traced in reports by UNICEF, and competing priorities among stakeholders like UNFPA and UNICEF. Future directions emphasize scaling proven interventions with partners such as PATH, integrating maternal-newborn services with Integrated Management of Childhood Illness frameworks, expanding digital health collaborations with WHO Digital Health Department and Digital Square, and aligning with global financing mechanisms including the Global Financing Facility to meet Sustainable Development Goals targets.
Category:International health organizations