New Project to Improve Health and Nutrition in Nine West African Francophone Countries

February 14, 2018IntraHealth International will implement a new regional project to improve nutrition and reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH) in the nineOuagadougou Partnership countries of West Africa, thanks to a three-year, $7 million award from the Bill& Melinda Gates Foundation.Francophone West Africa has among the highest maternal, neonatal, and child mortality rates in the world. The World Health Organization estimates that more than 303,000 women died in 2015 due to complications of pregnancy or childbirth, more than one-third of them in West and Central Africa. The global maternal mortality rate is 216/100,000 live births, while the maternal mortality rate in the nine Ouagadougou Partnership countries —Benin, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Togo, Burkina Faso, Cote D’Ivoire, and Niger—ranges from 315 (Senegal) to 679 (Guinea).One out of every 41 women will die of maternal causes in these countries, compared to 1 in 54 in all fragile countries and 1 in 4,900 in developed nations.The new Francophone West Africa (OP) Regional Hub for RMNCH Continuum Delivery of Post-Partum Family Planning, Nutrition and Essential Newborn Package (PPFP) proposes to support integration of these programs initially in three out of the nine Ouagadougou Partnership countries (Burkina Faso, Cote d ’Ivoire, and Niger) with subsequent support to all nine.Together, IntraHealth and our partners will work with the nine Ouagadougou Partnership countries to:achiev...

Source: IntraHealth International - February 14, 2018 Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: mnathe Source Type: news