World Health Day:
Make Every Mother and Child Count

Every year on April 7th communities, organizations, and governments around the globe observe World Health Day. This year, the theme of the day is healthy mothers and children. Research shows a direct link between the health and well-being of mothers and children and the prosperity of local communities and entire countries.

Still, huge numbers of mothers and children are dying or suffering from the effects of poor nutrition and inadequate health care. According to the World Health Organization, more than half a million women die in childbirth each year. In addition, 10.6 million children under the age of five years old die from a handful of preventable and treatable conditions. “Many of these deaths could be prevented using existing knowledge and affordable tools,” the WHO asserts.

“Healthy mothers are essential to ensuring the health of the next generation,” said Stephen F. Moseley, president of AED. “Improving the health of mothers and children has been a central focus of AED’s work for more than 30 years, and we are very pleased to be in partnership with USAID, country governments, local communities, and other international and local NGOs in these programs."

Related programs and publications that address the fourth and fifth Millenium Development Goals to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health include: 

Maternal and Child Mortality

The Support for Analysis and Research in Africa project has worked with more than 30 African partners all over the continent to address critical health issues problems and priorities such as HIV/AIDS prevention and mitigation, child survival, family planning and reproductive health, maternal and child health and basic education.

The Afghanistan REACH program works with the Afghanistan Ministry of Health to deliver essential health services to rural women and their children under five.

LINKAGES is a global program working to improve infant health and survival through support for increase breastfeeding, and related practices that improve maternal reproductive health, increase child spacing, and reduce HIV transmission. It’s estimated that breastfeeding could prevent 13% of deaths to children under 5 years of age. LINKAGES provides organizations with technical information, assistance and training, and behavior change communication for mothers and communities to promote small “do-able” actions to improve breastfeeding, related complementary feeding of infants after six months, and maternal health through better dietary practices.

The CHANGE project  worked with partners in Kenya, Guinea and Bangladesh to adapt and field test a set of tools to support the design of effective and locally appropriate behavior change interventions for maternal survival. The project also worked on measures aimed at preventing tuberculosis.

• PUBLICATIONS:
  • Qualities of Caring: Good Practices in Infant and Child Care (pdf 270 mb)
  • Utilizing the Potential of Formal and Informal Private Practitioners in Child Survival: Situation Analysis and Summary of Promising Interventions (pdf)
  • Behavioral barriers in tuberculosis control: A literature review (pdf)
  • Tuberculosis: The Pathway From Cough to Cure (pdf)

Nutrition

The Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance Project work supports integrated food security and nutrition programming to improve the health and well being of women and children. The project helps to integrate nutrition into the strategic planning process; provides analyses for food security and nutrition policy development; and shares information and knowledge with partners.

PROFILES offers a way to engage national leaders in policy dialogue about public health nutrition. PROFILES works to raise awareness about nutrition, build consensus, and makes nutrition a priority by showing the economic impact of malnutrition.

The Ethiopia Child Survival and Systems Strengthening Project aims to increase the survival rates of young children in Ethiopia through improved child survival and nutritional practices. In addition to increasing the number of fully vaccinated children, the program supports improved behaviors at the familiy level to support child health as well as improved nutritional practices, particularly exclusive breastfeeding and vitamin A coverage, in addition to improved women's nutrition.

• PUBLICATIONS:
• Addressing the "In" in Food Insecurity (pdf 132 kb) 
• Breastfeeding and Maternal Nutrition Frequently Asked Questions (120 kb pdf)
• Childcare, Nutrition and Health in the Central Plateau of Haiti: The Role of Community, Household and Caregiver Resources (pdf 109 kb) 
• Facts for Feeding: Birth, Initiation of Breastfeeding, and the First Seven Days after Birth (pdf 1mb)
• The Impact of Title II Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition Programs on the Nutritional Status of Children (pdf 390 kb) 

HIV/AIDS

Speak for the Child supports families and communities in western Kenya to improve the health, nutrition, and psychosocial care of young children orphaned and affected by HIV/AIDS. By partnering with experienced community-based organizations Speak for the Child is able to reach nearly 4,000 orphans and vulnerable children.

PUBLICATIONS: 

Community care for orphans and AIDS affected children (pdf 32 kb)

Malaria

NetMark has been working in sub-Saharan Africa since 1997 to reduce malaria by building commercial markets for insecticide-treated bed nets. The project is working to significantly increase the use of these nets among high-risk groups, especially pregnant women and children under five years old.

• PUBLICATIONS:
• A Guide to Research on Care-seeking for Childhood Malaria (pdf 136 kb)
• Comparing Care seeking for Childhood Malaria: Lessons from Zambia and Kenya (7mb pdf)
• NetMark Baseline Survey on Mosquito Nets in Mali (pdf)

“The well-being of societies is directly linked to the health and survival of mothers and children. When mothers survive and thrive, their children survive and thrive. When both mothers and children survive and thrive, the societies in which they live prosper.”

—“World Health Day 2005,”  World Health Organization