Excerpt: The Aga Khan Development Network AKDN has been engaged in MNCH (Maternal, Newborn & Child Health) for nearly a century.
The Kharadar maternity home in Karachi, for example, was established on 15 April 1924. Today, the Network’s MNCH activities span 12 countries in Central Asia Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, South Asia Pakistan, India, Sub-Saharan Africa Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique, and Mali and the Middle East Syria, Egypt.
Health statistics bear out the reasons for AKDN’s long-standing focus on MNCH. Of the 4.5m outpatient visits made in AKDN facilities, 2.7 million, or 60 percent, were related to MNCH. Similarly, of the more than 180,000 inpatients, 108,000 or 60 percent, were related to MNCH. Nearly 41,000 deliveries took place in AKDN managed health facilities. Over 2.5 million people were served through community-level MNCH activities, including: routine immunizations; child growth monitoring including milestones to assess early childhood development; provision of micro-nutrients; family planning; antenatal and post natal care visits; and, health promotion and disease prevention.
Technological solutions, such as mobile phone-based solutions and tele-medicine, are increasingly leveraged to improve access to MNCH services for rural or marginalized populations.
via Aga Khan at the Maternal, Newborn and Health Summit in Toronto – http://www.akdn.org/Content/1271
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