$181 Million in Activities to Help Prevent Maternal and Child Deaths

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) officially launched a suite of four activities to address preventable maternal and child deaths in Ethiopia.

These “Transform” activities will support the Government of Ethiopia’s overall efforts to prevent child and maternal deaths. USAID is investing approximately $181 million (USD) in these activities through 2022.

The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) is also providing support.

• Transform: Primary Health Care
• Transform: Health in Developing Regions
• Transform: WASH
• Transform: Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, and Adapting

The Transform suite of activities are designed based on lessons learned from past investments to strengthen the implementation of Ethiopia’s Health Sector Transformation Plan by improving health systems, providing comprehensive and integrated maternal, neonatal, and child health and family planning services, and building capacity around data for decision making and action.

Transform: Primary Health Care activity is designed to focus on strengthening the health system, increase quality of service delivery across the continuum of care and improve household and community health practices and health-seeking behaviors. It will be implemented in more than 400 rural woredas of Tigray, Amhara, Oromia and Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Regions benefiting close to 42 million people.

Also with the objective of strengthening health systems and healthy behaviors, Transform: Health in Developing Regional States activity is expected to increase utilization of quality, high-impact maternal, neonatal and child health services. It will focus in the four developing regions: Afar, Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambella and Somali.

Transform: WASH aims to reduce diarrheal diseases by increasing access to and sustained use of a greater range of affordable WASH products and services, with substantial focus on sanitation. Over the five year life of the activity, Transform: WASH will work with businesses and strengthen OneWASH National Program capacity in 40 woredas in eight regions.

Finally, Transform: Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Adapting will provide and synthesize high-quality monitoring and evaluation for adaptive learning and management of the Transform suite of activities.

U.S. Ambassador Michael A. Raynor noted at the launch, “These new awards will improve primary health care services in both agrarian and pastoral regions, expand access to safe water and sanitation, and measure and evaluate our success in doing so.”

USAID is partnering with Pathfinder International, Amref, Population Services International, the Mitchell Group and 12 other implementing partners with leadership from key Ministries to implement the Transform Suite of activities in different parts of Ethiopia.

This article was first published by CNBC Africa