Global initiatives in maternal and newborn health

Abstract

In 2015, 17 sustainable development goals were established for 2030. These global goals aim to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all. In support of the sustainable development goals, the World Health Organization proposed a new global strategy for women’s, children’s, and adolescents’ health in 2016 with three overarching objectives: to survive, to thrive, and to transform. We are now globally seeking not only to end preventable deaths but also to ensure health and wellbeing, and expand enabling environments. This strategy builds on several prior initiatives in maternal and newborn health, such as the Every Woman, Every Child initiative, and the strategy to end preventable maternal mortality and implementation of an action plan to end preventable newborn death. This confluence of initiatives, strategies, and novel financing mechanisms under the umbrella of the sustainable development goals and the global strategy pave the way for a global agenda in which securing women’s health is critical.