USAID Releases the 2016 Acting on the Call Report

Today, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) releases the 2016 Acting on the Call: Ending Preventable Child and Maternal Deaths report.

The 2016 report provides country-by-country updates on progress toward USAID’s goal of saving the lives of 15 million children and 600,000 women by 2020, focusing on 25 priority countries that, together, account for more than two-thirds of the world’s child and maternal deaths. For the first time, the 2016 Acting on the Call report also includes an in-depth look at the equitable access to health services. The report examines how, through an equity-based approach, USAID and partners can accelerate progress toward ending preventable child and maternal deaths, saving the lives of 8 million women and children from the bottom two wealth quintiles alone – the poorest 40 percent of the population – by 2020. 

Highlights from the report:

• In Ethiopia, USAID supported the expansion of community-based health insurance schemes, reaching 6.5 million people – a 700 percent increase over the previous year.
• In districts of Tanzania identified as having the lowest immunization coverage rates, the number of under- and unvaccinated children was reduced by more than 95 percent between 2013 and 2015.
• Quality improvement efforts in USAID-supported facilities in India led to a 13 percent reduction in newborn mortality.

Alongside the release of the 2016 report, USAID announced the Integrating Community Health Program, a new $9.2 million initiative that will leverage an additional $10 million investment from other sources, as well as support in the form of trainings, equipment, and direct support to community health workers. The Integrating Community Health Program is a collaboration between USAID and UNICEF that will support countries to achieve and sustain effective coverage of proven health interventions at scale and contribute to ending preventable child and maternal deaths. 

Learn more

• Read the 2016 Acting on the Call report and check out the report fact sheet [PDF, 6.7MB] and read the press release.
• Learn more about the Integrating Community Health Program.
• Use the social media toolkit to join the conversation.
• Learn more about USAID’s work in Maternal and Child Health.
• Watch “To Keep a Promise”, a video from partners of USAID showcasing the importance of continued investment in maternal and child health.

Photo credit: Amy Fowler/USAID