Acting on the Call 2016: Ending Preventable Child and Maternal Deaths: A Focus on Equity
For USAID, Acting on the Call (AOTC) is a continuous improvement process in the Agency’s drive to end preventable child and maternal deaths (EPCMD). Starting in 2012 with the Call to Action, USAID embraced strategic programming shifts and a bold endgame to help USAID priority countries reach parity with more developed countries in child mortality.
In 2014, with the Acting on the Call report, USAID together with partner countries, demonstrated, how a focus on high impact solutions such as access to quality and respectful care during delivery, clean cord treatment for newborns, and strengthening routine immunization in our 24 priority countries could put them on a path to achieve an end to preventable child and maternal deaths. In 2015, while reporting on progress to date, we also elaborated on high-impact interventions for maternal health that could provide increased access to delivery care for 38 million women in priority countries.
This 2016 Acting on the Call report specifically addresses equity, the notion that everyone should have a fair opportunity to reach their full health potential. In addition to an overall progress report, it looks at how we can further accelerate impact through an equity-based approach. The report presents data from the 24 priority countries, describing what could be achieved if the bottom two wealth quintiles (the bottom two-fifths or 40 percent of the population when sorted by level of wealth) had the same opportunities and access to health interventions as the rest of the population. It looks more closely country by country at those interventions where inequities in coverage and access occur. The accompanying technical briefs examine the various ways programs can address equity issues, in some cases suggesting novel solutions or new ways to look at data to understand and address inequity.
