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This year’s United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME)’s findings represent a noteworthy moment in the ongoing campaign to end all preventable child deaths: The annual number of under-five deaths has fallen to 4.9 (4.6–5.4) million in 2022.  The report reveals that more children are surviving today than ever before, with the global under-5 mortality rate declining by 51 per cent since 2000. And several low- and lower-middle-income countries have outpaced this decline. This is a testament to the commitment of governments, organizations, local communities, health-care professionals and families to the survival of the most vulnerable members of our global community.

Yet millions of children still died before seeing their fifth birthday – a loss that serves as a crucial reminder that threats to newborn and child health and survival persist around the world, particularly among the most marginalized children.  In addition to the 4.9 million lives lost before the age of 5 – nearly half of which were newborns – the lives of another 2.1 million children and youth aged 5-24 were also cut short. Most of these deaths were concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. There is still a long road ahead to end all preventable child and youth deaths.

Ending preventable child deaths in every community will require targeted investments in available, accessible quality health care, including skilled health personnel at birth, antenatal and postnatal care, care for small and sick newborns, preventive services such as vaccination, and diagnostic, preventive and curative measures to treat the key causes of childhood death. Data systems must also be strengthened to track and monitor survival by age and to help address underlying inequalities. This will enable us to move closer to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and ensure that every child has the opportunity to thrive.

This assessment aims to establish service availability and readiness for maternal immunization at health facilities providing antenatal care (ANC) services. The findings will be used to enable the country to improve current and prepare for future maternal immunization services.

Highlights

• The assessment may be initiated at national, county, sub-county, or health facility level to gather information for planning and consequent management of available resources to maximize on outputs.
• The exercise involves a walk-through of the facility, interview with clinic staff, direct observation of clinical practices, and review of the availability and use of equipment and supplies for service delivery.
• At the end of the assessment, the assessors will hold a debrief session with the facility team on findings and actionable items. An action plan to drive improvement will be drawn with the facility and the sub-county team for follow-up and support.

How to Use

This Health Facility Readiness Assessment Tool has been made to be adapted for other contexts.

This assessment aims to establish service availability and readiness for maternal immunization at health facilities providing antenatal care (ANC) services. The findings will be used to enable the country to improve current and prepare for future maternal immunization services.

Highlights

• The assessment may be initiated at national, county, sub-county, or health facility level to gather information for planning and consequent management of available resources to maximize on outputs.
• The exercise involves a walk-through of the facility, interview with clinic staff, direct observation of clinical practices, and review of the availability and use of equipment and supplies for service delivery.
• At the end of the assessment, the assessors will hold a debrief session with the facility team on findings and actionable items. An action plan to drive improvement will be drawn with the facility and the sub-county team for follow-up and support.

How to Use

This Health Facility Readiness Assessment Tool was created for Kenya but can be adapted for other contexts.

The Q&As are intended to provide answers to health providers and the public on COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy. Q&As related to COVID-19 vaccines and breastfeeding can be found at the following link: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: COVID-19 vaccines and breastfeeding based on WHO interim recommendations.

These questions and answers (Q&As) are based on the most recent interim recommendations from the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) for COVID-19 vaccines that have been approved by WHO under Emergency Use Listing (EUL)a as of 15 February 2022.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO has engaged with countries to ensure the continuity of essential health services. Through a special initiative, the Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health and Ageing has supported 19 countries: Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, India, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Romania, South Africa, Sudan, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Uganda and Yemen in their efforts to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on essential MNCH services.

This global event shared and discussed countries’ experiences and lessons learned during the implementation, including establishing structures and systems to coordinate the response and ensure continuity of services,  proactive use of data to inform decision-making, adaptation of service delivery and innovation.

This event offered health policymakers, health systems, programme managers, emergency officers, MNCH programme implementers, health professionals, researchers, development and funding partners with an opportunity to interact with Ministries of Health and implementers from the 19 countries and discuss strategies to strengthen the health systems able to rapidly respond and build back better.