Accelerating Progress towards Achieving the MDG to Improve Maternal Health

This publication is a collection of promising approaches that have been designed to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing maternal mortality by three-fourths by 2015.

Abstract:
One of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) is to improve maternal health, with the target of reducing maternal mortality by three-quarters between 1990 and 2015. In an effort to accelerate progress towards achieving this MDG, this paper brings together high-quality information on a wide range of promising approaches that aim to improve maternal health outcomes. These global promising approaches, based on field research and practice by experienced organizations working in this arena, can serve as a useful starting point in the process to improve current maternal health programming. This paper will be useful for World Bank staff when assisting client countries in developing their National Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and costing health sector plans. Moreover, the paper provides Bank staff with substantive evidence to share with governments on how best to prioritize and implement maternal health programs, and scale up efforts to achieve progress. Although primarily intended for use by Bank staff, we hope this guide will also be useful to governments, other international donor agencies, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), who are interested in improving maternal health, and minimizing the disparities that currently exist between industrialized and developing countries.

The paper's Annexes include contact details for the various agencies and organisations referenced in the report for those seeking more detailed information on the promising approaches. "What is clearly reflected in these approaches is that success in addressing maternal health issues and strengthening the supply-demand nexus requires support and involvement from stakeholders at all levels - from women themselves, their families, communities, nongovernmental organizations, governmental organizations, medical institutions, bilateral and multilateral agencies, other development partners, and policymakers," note the authors in their concluding remarks.

The report is part of a series produced by the Health, Nutrition, and Population Family (HNP) of the World Bank's Human Development Network. The papers in this series aim to provide a vehicle for publishing results on HNP topics to encourage discussion and debate.