Stakeholders Unveil Regional Think Thank, Declare Action On Maternal Mortality, Others

By Bukar BOLORI

A Regional Body of academia and experts in the health sector has been inaugurated with the goal of accelerating innovations in maternal, newborn, child, nutrition and health (MNCH&N) outcomes across sub-Saharan Africa.

The Regional Think Tank which was formed in Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital, comprising experts from across sub-Saharan Africa draws its mandate from relevant global and African charters and treaties of which Nigeria is a signatory.

These charters include: The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3, the African Union Agenda 2063, Every Newborn Action Plan (ENAP), the Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality (EPMM) Strategy, and other multi-country implementation frameworks to catalyse coordinated acceleration of maternal, newborn, child, nutrition, and health (MNCH&N) outcomes across sub-Saharan Africa.

According to the stakeholders, the establishment of a regional body of experts becomes imperative because less than five years to the end of the SDG timeline in 2030, Africa remains far from achieving its MNCH&N targets. In 2023 alone, the region recorded an estimated 201,205 maternal deaths, concentrated in West, East, Central, and Southern Africa.

“Approximately one quarter of these deaths were attributable to postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), a largely preventable cause when proven, life-saving interventions such as E-MOTIVE are implemented at scale,” Prof. Hadiza Galadanci, a member of the Think Tank and Executive Director, Africa Centre of Excellence for Population Health and Policy, said.

In a statement made available to our correspondent in Abuja, the newly formed body decried newborn mortality in the region describing it as unacceptably high, with over one million newborn deaths annually in sub-Saharan Africa, while stillbirths persist as a major public health concern.

It noted that malnutrition contributes to nearly 45% of under-five deaths, further compounding risks to child survival.

“These overlapping challenges underscore the urgent need for coordinated, evidence-driven, and scalable action,” the communique said in part.

It said that the newly unveiled regional think tank (RTT) will coordinate engagement at regional and national levels to support the scale-up of E-MOTIVE, while serving as a platform for dialogue on effective pathways for scaling other high-impact MNCH innovations across Africa.

It reads: “The overarching vision of the RTT is to accelerate implementation at scale and avert thousands of preventable deaths soon. The RTT responds to persistent challenges in African MNCH&N programming, including fragmentation, uneven adoption of proven innovations, policy–practice gaps, insufficient and unsustainable financing, limited cross-country learning, and weak performance monitoring systems. By convening regional expertise, the RTT aims to harmonise evidence, strengthen country pathways to scale, and improve implementation fidelity.”

Participants at the inaugural meeting of the Think Tank included representatives from the Africa Centres of Excellence (Nigeria, Guinea, and Senegal); academic institutions (Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, University of Nairobi, and University of Rwanda); civil society (White Ribbon); implementing partners (Centre for Communication and Social Impact (CCSI), Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria (MWAN), Pathfinder International, TA Connect, SCiDAR, and Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI); funders (Gates Foundation); and the private sector (Ferring Pharmaceuticals).

They reflected representation from all sub-regions of sub-Saharan Africa, with a wider pool of regional experts identified for future engagement.

The participants formally endorsed the RTT governance structure, including a Steering Committee, a dual Chair arrangement ensuring Anglophone and Francophone representation, and a Secretariat to coordinate implementation, learning, and engagement.