The Alliance is seeking your assistance in identifying innovations implemented in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka over the past decade (2005-15) which you believe have contributed to improved access to quality care for mothers and children.
Innovations, for the purpose of this call, include technological, organizational or policy measures OR improvements in the health system that enables mothers and children to more easily access high quality care (*see PDF below for examples).
Background case studies will be prepared on select innovations and will serve as a basis for discussion in a cross-national learning exchange meeting being held early next year in Islamabad, hosted by the Ministry of Health, Government of Pakistan.
Background
Many improvements in health that we see today have been the result of a wide range of innovations developed and implemented by key stakeholders, including national governments, regional or local governments and civil society actors.
There is much to learn from these innovations, particularly across countries that are at a similar stage of the epidemiological transition and share social and cultural attributes as well as health financing and governance arrangements.
In spite of robust and rapid economic growth in many South Asian countries, over 500 million people continue to live in extreme poverty. Much progress has been made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals; however enormous public health challenges remain. In particular is the growing double burden of disease which puts a severe strain on inadequately funded national health systems. Today, out-of-pocket health spending in South Asia is the highest in any region of the world (World Bank, 2015).
Cross-National Learning Exchange Meeting
In 2016, the Alliance, supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Canada will be holding a two-day long exchange meeting in Islamabad hosted by the Ministry of Health, Government of Pakistan. The aim of the meeting is to encourage cross-national learning from innovations implemented within the South Asia region over recent years to improve access to quality care for mothers and children.
By demonstrating the added value of sharing learnings, ideas and perspectives at the regional level, this event will serve as a catalyst for the establishment of a policy research platform enabling greater regional level collaboration to face common challenges in public health and development.
Background Document
Submit your innovations!
Deadline: 2 December 2015
For more information, contact Zubin Shroff (shroffz@who.int).