Since 1990, maternal deaths in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of south Asia have barely fallen, and the decline in child deaths has stalled. This programme tackles that stagnation head-on. It builds a global network of surveillance sites in Bangladesh, India, Malawi, and Nepal—places where mothers and newborns still die at stubbornly high rates. The researchers will link data across these sites to track who gets care, who does not, and why. They will follow children from birth to measure growth and development, and connect health outcomes to poverty, social support, and the strength of local clinics. If it succeeds, the programme will do more than produce papers. It will give governments and international agencies the hard evidence they need to shift resources and policies toward the women and children currently being missed. It also trains researchers in partner countries to design, run, and communicate studies that policymakers actually use, fostering peer learning between nations facing similar challenges. The goal is to turn data into action—to restart the decline in deaths that has stalled for a generation.
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Since 1990, in sub-Saharan Africa and many populations in south Asia, there has been almost no progress with Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 to improve maternal survival, and a plateauing in the decline in under five mortality rates (MDG 4). Neonatal mortality rates remain stubbornly high. This strategic award programme has three objectives. Building upon existing trials, it will develop a global network of linked epidemiological surveillance sites in Bangladesh, India, Malawi and Nepal to study maternal and child health and survival in high mortality populations. The award will strengthen our network capacity to conduct meta-analyses and cross-country comparisons of data, especially for maternal mortality, to improve understanding of coverage, access and equity of uptake of maternal and newborn care, to collect longitudinal cohort data on growth and development among children, and to analyse linkages between health outcomes and proximate indicators such as poverty, social capita l and the strength of local health systems. Second the award will strengthen capacity to translate research evidence into policy and practice in partner countries and through international agencies. Third, it will strengthen capacity of partner institutions to design, manage and communicate high quality policy-relevant research, especially through south-to-south dialogue and peer-learning.
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