Reducing maternal, newborn and child mortality and morbidity

The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (PMNCH), brings together more than 220 organizations representing partner countries, UN agencies, donors, NGOs, health professional associations and academic and research institutions in focusing global efforts to scale up resources, strategies, and political commitments to achieve Millennium Development Goals 4 & 5. FCI serves as co-chair for the Partnership’s Board. World Bank is the chair of the board, and the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia serves as the other co-chair.

Working together to improve maternal health worldwide

The Maternal Health Task Force contributes to shaping collective efforts to improve maternal health worldwide. Supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Task Force serves as a catalyst to address one of the most neglected areas in global health. The Task Force does not duplicate or replace existing projects, but plays a complementary role by convening stakeholders and creating an inclusive setting to engage in dialogue, build consensus, and share information. The Task Force provides a new forum dedicated specifically to maternal health, while reaching out to leaders from allied fields—including neonatal and child health, reproductive health, human rights, and HIV/AIDS—to devise innovative solutions to maternal morbidity and mortality.

Linking maternal mortality and human rights

The International Initiative on Maternal Mortality and Human Rights, launched in 2007 at the Women Deliver conference, represents a renewed commitment to women and their human right to safe pregnancy and childbirth. The Initiative works for the implementation of effective and equitable policies and programs to reduce maternal mortality, secure increased resources at the global and national levels, and promote understanding among key stake-holders on maternal mortality as a human rights issue.

Emergency Contraception: Essential for reproductive health

FCI is pleased to serve as the host organization for the International Consortium for Emergency Contraception (ICEC), headed by ICEC Coordinator, Elizabeth Westley.
ICEC is an alliance of 34 non-governmental organizations, including the world’s largest international reproductive health organizations, all of which are working toward the common goal of universal access to emergency contraception.

Addressing unsafe abortion

FCI is the first non-USAID-funded NGO to lead the Postabortion Care Consortium (PAC), a network of US-based organizations that work to inform the reproductive health community about possible complications related to miscarriage and incomplete abortion, and to promote postabortion care as an effective strategy for reducing abortion-related morbidity and mortality. FCI will serve in its new position for two years.

Promoting regional action in Latin America and the Caribbean

FCI is a founding member of the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Task Force on Maternal Mortality Reduction, which seeks to address maternal deaths in the region by: supporting national and municipal actions; making available quality maternal health services; increasing public demand for services that high quality, affordable, and accessible; building partnerships; and assuring financial support and economic sustainability of maternal health care.

FCI also participates in country-level task forces on maternal mortality including Bolivia, Mexico, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico.