What has the Malawian Government pledged to do to save the lives of our mothers and babies? Below we outline some of the public pledges made by the Government at international events. MamaYe will be working with our communities to make sure these pledges are met. Find out what commitments have been made in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania.
The Every Newborn Action Plan- an action plan and commitments to end preventable newborn deaths
The Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP) was developed following an extensive global consultation process with governments, professional associations, non-governmental organisations and individuals as was presented at the 67th World Health Assembly in May 2014. It was launched in June 2014 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Malawi Government commits reducing neonatal mortality from 31 per 1000 live births to 25 per 1000 live births by 2020. To achieve this goal, the Government of Malawi aims to:
- Use a multisectoral approach to reach 85 per cent of all newborns with essential care services
- Increase financial resource allocation for health budget to 15%, with 30% of total health budget allocated to women’s and children’s health
- Focus and target policy documents to improve quality of maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) services
- Scale-up high-impact maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) interventions, focusing on national level coverage and underserved populations
- Strengthen the health system for MNCH
- Support innovation for reproductive health and MNCH, including Kangaroo Mother Care
- Increase monitoring, evaluation and accountability for MNCH
The Abuja Declaration - a commitment to ensure 15% of the annual budget is used to improve the health sector
In April 2001, at a meeting of African leaders in the Nigerian capital, the Malawian government pledged to support the Abuja Declaration, that at least 15% of the government's annual budget is used to improve the health sector. No deadline was set for meeting this commitment.
What has been done so far?
The latest available data (2011) shows the Malawian Government had increased health sector allocation to 19% of the annual budget.
The Maputo Plan of Action - to ensure universal access to reproductive health services
In September 2006, at a meeting in the Mozambican capital, Malawi pledged to support the Maputo Plan which addresses "the serious threat" to "the right to health in Africa" (with) "poor sexual and reproductive health as a leading killer." The Malawian Government plan to address this threat through the following means:
- Integrating HIV/AIDS services into sexual and reproductive health and rights
- Promoting family planning as a crucial factor in attaining the Millennium Development Goals
- Supporting the sexual and reproductive health needs of adolescents and young people
- Addressing unsafe abortions
- Delivering quality and affordable health services to promote safe motherhood, child survival, and maternal, newborn and child health
- Adopting strategies that would ensure reproductive health commodity security
- Increasing resources for sexual and reproductive health, in alignment with the Abuja Declaration
The UN's Every Woman Every Child - a commitment to save the lives of women and children by 2015
In September 2010, at a summit for the UN Millenium Development Goals in New York, Malawi was one of the governments that pledged to "save the lives of 16 million women and children by 2015." Malawi pledged to do this by:
- Strengthening human resources for health, including accelerating training and recruitment of health professionals to fill all available positions in the health sector
- Expanding infrastructures for maternal, newborn and child health
- Increasing basic emergency obstetric and neonatal care coverage to reach World Health Organization standards
- Providing free care through partnerships with private institutions
- There were no numerical targets set
Taken from the "Commitments in Support of the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health" on the UN's Every Woman Every Child website.
The Family Planning Summit - to mobilise contraceptive information, services and supplies
In July 2012, Malawi was one of the governments in attendance at a summit convened by the UK government and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with UNFPA and other partners. The summit proposed to "mobilise global policy, financing, commodity, and service delivery commitments to support the rights of an additional 120 million women and girls in the world's poorest countries." The aim of the summit was to:
- Revitalize global commitments to family planning and access to contraceptives as a cost-effective and transformational development priority
- Improve the access and distribution of contraceptive supplies
- Remove and reduce barriers to family planning
To achieve these goals Malawi pledged to:
- Raise contraceptive prevalence rate to 60% by 2020 with a focused increase in those aged 15-24
- Create a family planning budget line in the main drug budget by 2013/2014
- Raise the age of marriage to 18 by 2014
- Develop a comprehensive sexual and reproductive health program to meet the needs of young people
- Work to strengthen effective policy leadership for family planning
- Demonstrate accountability in the utilization of available resources and improve financial allocation for health systems supporting family planning
- Increase coverage of services through the expansion of public/private partnerships, increase community access to family planning methods and strengthen forecasting and data management for effective supply chain operation
Taken from the "Commitments in Support of the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health" on the UN's Every Woman Every Child website.
.You can watch Khumbo Kachali, Malawi's Vice President and Minister of Health, announce Malawi's commitments to family planning.