Maternal and Child Health

Description

Maternal and Child Health (MCH) supports programs aimed at ending preventable child and maternal deaths. It strengthens health delivery systems, treats diarrheal disease and pneumonia, and provides immunizations and immunization support.

Use of Funds

MCH funding supports access to high-quality prenatal, labor and delivery, postpartum, and essential newborn care. Interventions include immunizations; improving nutrition; improving access to and use of safe water, sanitation, and hygiene practices; addressing neglected tropical diseases; and providing medical products such as insecticide-treated mosquito nets.

Justification

• Current trends predict that close to 23 million 5-to-24-year-olds and 48 million children under five years of age will die between 2020 and 2030.
  • Almost half of these under-five deaths can be prevented by investing in adequate maternal care, such as postnatal care for mother and baby.
• The global maternal mortality rate increased from 151 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2019 to 152 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2020. This trend projects 133 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2030, almost double the SDG goal.
• MCH funding also fulfills U.S. commitments to Gavi and the global plan for polio eradication.
  • Gavi has helped vaccinate more than 822 million children and supported more than 1.1 billion campaign vaccinations.
  • These efforts have prevented more than 14 million future deaths, strengthened health systems in 69 countries, and generated $150 billion in economic benefits.
• Immunization yields up to a 44-fold return on investment in low- and middle-income countries and averts an estimated 2 to 3 million child deaths annually.