Over the past five years, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) identified and refined its strategy to prevent child and maternal deaths in annual Acting on the Call reports. This strategy represents USAID’s approach to pursuing the greatest improvements in maternal and child survival by scaling up high-impact interventions to those who need them most, while simultaneously addressing key health constraints. The Acting on the Call reports lay out, and provide updates on, USAID’s commitment to prevent child and maternal deaths.

A key component of this effort is building countries’ capacity to effectively manage their own health care. Since 2012, the governments in more than half of USAID’s priority countries for maternal and child survival have increased their domestic budgets for health. Having demonstrated the potential results achievable through our strategy, we continue to look for new opportunities to improve our programs and refine our approach.