The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health program works to expand coverage of proven, cost-effective interventions to reduce maternal and child mortality. The foundation invests in improving tools, technologies, and treatments; health care practices; and advocating for policies that benefit maternal, newborn, and child survival. Key strategies include adapting existing interventions, developing new low-cost tools, improving primary health care, disseminating best practices, and strengthening local advocacy.

1. http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Development/Maternal-Newborn-and-Child-Health

2. THE OPPORTUNITY
• Most maternal and newborn deaths can be prevented with
existing, proven, cost-effective practices
• Antibiotics, cord care (including sterile blades)
• Drugs that treat post-partum hemorrhage
• Resuscitation
• Immediate and exclusive breastfeeding
• Kangaroo mother care to keep skin-to-skin contact

3. COST-EFFECTIVE INTERVENTIONS
• Significantly reduce maternal and child mortality
• Further improvements are also possible through development
of new tools and technologies that enable
• Earlier, faster, and more accurate assessment of gestational age
• Diagnosis and treatment of dangerous conditions
• Measures to prevent preterm death

4. FAMILY PLANNING SERVICES
(Especially among high-risk adolescent girls)
• Significantly reduce maternal and child mortality
GOAL
• To increase the coverage of family planning services

5. PRENATAL AND POSTPARTUM SERVICES
• Can help strengthen the link between family planning and
maternal and newborn health
GOAL
• To increase the quality of prenatal and postpartum services

6. FIRST-LEVEL CARE FACILITIES
• An increasing number of women are seeking to deliver their
babies at first-level care facilities
• These facilities are an opportunity to expand quality services at
the time of birth

8. THE CHALLENGE
• Since 1990, maternal deaths have dropped by 45 per cent.
• However, every day 800 women die from preventable causes
related to pregnancy and childbirth.

9. THE DEATHS OCCUR
• In low-income settings as a result of conditions that include
• Bleeding
• Infection
• High blood pressure
• Complications during delivery

10. MATERNAL HEALTH
• Closely linked to newborn survival
• Great strides have been made in reducing global infant
mortality
• Newborns still account for 44 per cent of all childhood deaths.
• Each year, 2.9 million newborns die needlessly within the first
month.
• An additional 2.6 million are stillborn.

11. CAUSES OF INFANT MORTALITY
• Main causes of infant mortality are preventable and treatable.
• Prematurity
• Complications during delivery
• Infection

12. PROVEN HIGH-IMPACT INTERVENTIONS
• Are available
• But do not reach all of the newborns and women who need
them.

13. FACILITY BIRTHS
• Are increasing in all regions and income groups
• Quality of care at birth remains a major challenge
• Many women give birth at home
• Women may not see a skilled health worker before or after delivery
• Skilled health workers often lack access to critical supplies and
medicines

15. OUR STRATEGY
BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION – MATERNAL, NEWBORN, AND CHILD HEALTH
PROGRAM

16. BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION’S
MATERNAL, NEWBORN, AND CHILD HEALTH
PROGRAM
• Works to expand coverage of high-impact interventions
• Works to ensure that women and newborns survive and stay
healthy during childbirth and beyond

17. BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION’S
MATERNAL, NEWBORN, AND CHILD HEALTH
PROGRAM
• We invest in efforts to
• Adapt and develop innovative tools, technologies, and treatments
• Improve the quality of healthcare services and practices
• Improve the quality of interactions between health workers and families
• Advocate for national and global policies that benefit maternal, newborn,
and child survival and health

18. BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION’S
MATERNAL, NEWBORN, AND CHILD HEALTH
PROGRAM
• We work closely with governments, United Nations and bilateral,
non-governmental organizations and the private sector
• We collaborate with other programs at the foundation, such as
• Discovery
• Integrated delivery
• Nutrition
• Family planning
• Childhood infectious diseases
• Policy and advocacy
• Communications

19. BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION’S
MATERNAL, NEWBORN, AND CHILD HEALTH
PROGRAM
• We support research across discovery, development, and
implementation sciences in many parts of the world.
• This work can lead to better ways to save the lives of women
and newborns and improve their health.

21. IMPROVING TOOLS, TECHNOLOGIES,
TREATMENTS

22. IMPROVING TOOLS, TECHNOLOGIES,
TREATMENTS
• To assess the primary risk factors for maternal and newborn
health, we work
• To adapt existing preventive and curative tools, technologies, and
treatments
• To develop new tools, technologies, and treatments that are more
effective and affordable
• To develop new tools and strategies that will be more readily accepted
by families and health workers in rural and community clinics

23. THESE NEW TOOLS INCLUDE…
• Ways to manage postpartum hemorrhage
• Ways to treat newborn infections using simplified antibiotic
regimens
• Ways to clean the umbilical cord

24. IMPROVING HEALTH PRACTICES

25. IMPROVING HEALTH PRACTICES
• We work to help community-level healthcare providers
• Advance their knowledge and skills
• Expand their use of innovative tools
• One key priority
• Improving the quality of care in primary healthcare facilities where
women give birth.

26. HEALTH CARE WORKERS
• Can also improve outcomes for women and children by
disseminating good health practices such as
• Handwashing
• Immunization
• Postpartum family planning
• Exclusive breast-feeding

29. WE SEEK TO …
• Identify and reduce barriers to the adoption of effective
interventions
• Disseminate information about maternal and newborn health
• Conduct large-scale education campaigns
• Mobilize local networks to improve household and community
practices and social norms
• Reduce financial barriers to obtaining care

30. TO REACH ADOLESCENT GIRLS…
(Who are particularly at risk during pregnancy and childbirth)
• We work with the foundation’s Family Planning and Nutrition
programs on ways to deliver integrated services

31. ADVOCATING
FOR BETTER POLICIES AND STRATEGIES

32. ADVOCATING …
• We strengthen the skills and capacities of local advocates
• We promote policies and strategies that enable countries to
• Increase the use of life-saving health interventions
• Raise awareness of overlooked risk factors for newborn and maternal
mortality
• Expand the use of essential medicines

33. ADVOCATING …
• We also work to achieve global agreement on a set of uniform
standards for health targets and measurements.
• The goal is to help with planning, monitoring, and more
informed decision-making.

34. http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do/Global-Development/Maternal-Newborn-and-Child-Health