Quarterly Newsletter 2023, Issue 3

African mother smiles and looks down at her baby dressed in a red dress in her arms.

Photo: Allan Gichigi/MCSP

Greetings from the SECRETARIAT

Dear Friends,

It has been a productive quarter, and we're excited to share our third newsletter of the year. The recent resolution for maternal and child health passed at the 77th World Health Assembly has reignited global attention and commitment to achieving maternal and child health sustainable development goals. We must keep this momentum going. In this issue we have updates from recent efforts of Child Survival Action (CSA); the last Task Force Steering Committee meeting held in Malawi, and the School Health and Nutrition e-course launch. We share recent activities from the subgroups, along with new resources and events from our network.

Sincerely,
Dyness Kasungami, Director of the Child Health Task Force

Two illustrated figures of children dancing

CHILD SURVIVAL ACTION UPDATES

A round up of recent Child Survival Action (CSA) events, resources, and publications. Learn more on our CSA Hub.

EVENT: From Resolution to Reality: Accelerating Progress on Maternal and Child Survival in Africa

Following the adoption of the Somalia-led resolution on maternal and child health at the 77th World Health Assembly (WHA77), the Task Force (TF) and its CSA partners hosted a ministerial panel on July 23rd to discuss how to translate the resolution to action and what African leaders are prioritizing. The esteemed panelists from Sierra Leone, Somalia, Guinea, Mali, and WHO Regional Office for Africa shared their perspectives on the work and resources that are needed in the continent for child survival.

Highlights:

"We need to engage the community more and avail crucial data to inform our action and theirs, so that they understand their responsibility in the hope that they can participate in guaranteeing maternal and child health." -Dr. Guindo, Secretary General for the Ministry of Health and Social Development, Mali

"Equity is a very important consideration…that requires that we have the data. Data that enables us to map and to know where it is that we have the most gaps.” -Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa

"There is ongoing development on the laws and strategic plans for community health centers, which is really the flagship strategy of the ministry in a bid to enable us to reach women and children in hard-to-reach zones." -Dr. Kaba, Director, Women, Children and Family, Guinea 

Watch the Panel

EVENT: Tackling the Public Health Emergency of Preventable Child Mortality in the WHO African Region

“We're allocating millions of dollars towards Mpox...and everyone is very excited. With that said, we still have millions — millions — of children dying every year, millions of mothers dying every year. This is really unacceptable. We have all of the tools at our disposal to reverse this, to turn this around. Why is this still going on? I think this meeting today is an opportunity for us to call to action, and to really come together as a continent to focus on this issue.” -Hon. Dr. Austin Demby, Health Minister, Sierra Leone 

On August 28, at the 74th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa, the Ministry of Health, Sierra Leone; WHO AFRO; UNICEF; and the Task Force organized a ministerial side event that convened African health leaders, partners, and supporters. Minister Demby called on health leaders and actors to prioritize preventable child mortality and to recognize it as an urgent crisis. He urged them to join CSA and emphasized concrete actions African countries and partners can take, including integrating maternal and child survival in national health agendas; scaling up people-centered services in the context of a PHC approach; and allocating sufficient resources to evidence-based interventions, essential medicines, and infrastructure. The meeting adopted a call to action to prioritize the unfinished agenda of maternal and child survival; align investments with commitments; ensure accountability; build multi-sectoral coalitions and partnerships; and advocate with heads of state to recognize child survival as a public health emergency.

Watch the Side Event

LIVE EVENT: Accelerating Momentum for Child Health

In another effort to sustain the momentum for child survival, following the WHA77 maternal and child health resolution, the Task Force teamed up with USAID MOMENTUM in a live event on September 16. Streamed on X, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube, advocates and country implementers shared their perspectives on what it takes to improve child health.

Watch Recording

CSA Toolkit Updates

Earlier this year we launched the CSA Toolkit – a curated set of practical tools, resources, and examples for country and global stakeholders who are working towards accelerating progress in child mortality outcomes – and hosted a launch event. Since then, we've added even more content and will continue to update and expand the collection. Be sure to bookmark the page and explore the latest additions.

Explore Toolkit

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STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING

This year, the Task Force Steering Committee (SC) held its biannual meeting in Malawi from July 29–August 2. The Task Force Secretariat and SC members met with key country stakeholders; conducted a field visit; and participated in the Malawi Ministry of Health's dissemination meeting for the midterm review (MTR) of the Malawi Child Health Strategic Plan (2021–2026). The meeting aimed to advance the "partnering with countries" thematic area of the Task Force's strategic plan; incorporate lessons from Malawi into broader country partnership efforts; and to address coordination and implementation challenges at the country level.

Meeting objectives included:

  • Assessing progress in implementing the Task Force's strategic plan and identifying actions for the second half of the year.
  • Advancing the vision for CSA by providing input into the plans and strategic direction.
  • Participating in the dissemination of the Malawi Child Health Strategy MTR to understand progress, challenges, and opportunities, and explore how lessons learned can inform the Task Force's broader country support agenda.

Some key takeaways and action items included:

  • Progress Review: Substantial strides were made in implementing the Task Force's strategic plan and CSA since November 2023.
  • Progress in Malawi: The MOH has made notable advancements in implementing its strategic plan, demonstrating that progress is achievable even in limited-resource settings. Further support will strengthen program management at the subnational level and enhance data use for resource allocation and program monitoring.
  • Engagement Improvement: Enhanced engagement is needed within the Task Force, especially focusing on members based in fragile and conflict-affected states, the private sector, and multi-sector collaborators.
  • CSA Coordination & Messaging: Need for improved coordination and messaging around CSA, including rebranding away from the term "initiative" and fostering more collaboration across action teams.
  • Suggested actions for the TF and Partners:
  • Strengthen TF knowledge management and engagement opportunities through the hosting of a virtual or hybrid conference every two years. 
  • Increase TF member engagement in CSA through regularly hosted webinars or other update mechanisms.
  • Develop criteria, in consultation with the SC, for countries to host the SC meetings in future.

Read the Report

Photos: Top - SC members with Dr. Samson Mndolo, Secretary for Health and Dr. Humphreys Nsona, Program Manager, IMCI Unit; Bottom - Salima health facility visit.

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SCHOOL HEALTH & NUTRITION e-COURSE WEBINAR

On July 11, the Task Force hosted Introducing From Principles to Practice: An e-Learning Course on School Health and Nutrition that marked the official launch of the self-paced e-learning course, School Health and Nutrition: From Principles to Practice. Developed in partnership with USAID, the open-access course offers learners the chance to cover from basics of school-based health service delivery to mechanisms and tools to support multisector efforts. At the launch event, course users shared their perspectives on the importance of the topic and how the course has supported their project planning.

Watch Webinar

Take Course

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SUBGROUP UPDATES

Digital Health and Innovations

Newborn and Child Health Commodities and Quality of Care

Nutrition and Child Health

Private Sector Engagement and Institutionalizing iCCM

Childhood Vaccination

Re-imagining the Package of Care for Children

  • The subgroup hosted the second session of its Re-Imagining Child Health Through Primary Health Care Series on July 17, focusing on Primary care and essential public health functions.
  • The subgroup launched a new co-hosted series with UNICEF, Global Communities, and Save the Children, Climate Change and Health Forum. The first session, A Threat to Progress: Confronting the Effects of Climate Change on Child Health and Well-being: New UNICEF report, was held in August.

Join individual subgroup mailing lists by completing this brief online form.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Task Force Events

Recordings of previous Task-Force-hosted events can be found on our Events Page.

Partner Events

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NOUVELLES DU RÉSEAU

Webinar Materials

Tools

Publications & Reports