Countdown to 2015 for Maternal, Newborn and Child Survival

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Plenary session 4 - Accountability, human rights and scaling-up PDF Print E-mail
Facilitated by Dr. Peter Salama:

1. Question:  Given that Norway is one of the few governments meeting and making commitments, how can we put pressure on other donors to meet their commitments?

Dr. Tore Godal, Special advisor to the Prime Minister of Norway:

"The accountability question is an important one.  One way to enhance accountability is for research institutions in the South to play a larger role in determining what we should be doing for MNCH.  A second strategy for ensuring accountability is for civil society to  increase their pressure on governments to hold to their commitments and move towards the 1% GDP pledge."

2. Question:  How can we move to a more harmonized system within the donor community to get maximized results towards the health MDGs?

Dr. Melanie Galvin, head of nutrition at CIDA and linked with the Catalytic Initiative:

"Launched about one year ago with about US $200 million from a coalition of donors  (NORAD, Gates, UNICEF and others working with USAID, the International Health Partnership), the Catalytic Initiative is aimed harmonizing MDGs 4 & 5 in seven target countries.  It will focus on the highest impact interventions and include a rigorous monitoring and evaluation component developed in cooperation with the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health."

3.  Question:  What is the role of civil society in holding governments to account? 

Dr. Anne Peterson, Director, Global Health World Vision:

"A major goal of Global Health World Vision is to help the government re-focus on communities and engage with civil society, which is a key player for several reasons:  civil society is grass roots, living in communities, where most deaths occur and preventive interventions delivered; civil society can ensure equity, knowing who is disenfranchised; civil society also brings together all sectors and representatives which directly interact with families.  Through partnerships with community members and government, civil society can raise awareness in communities about rights to health and can pressure governments to be held accountable to those rights.”

4.  Question:  Picking up on the critique of the MDGs given by the speakers, particularly on their silence on equity, what is the role of NGOs in reaching the most underserved communities?

Dr. Bertha Pooley, Saving Newborn Lives/Save the Children, Bolivia:  

“Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are small laboratories based in communities and play a significant role in implementing and evaluating studies at the local level and determining if and how they should be adopted and brought to a larger scale, as in the integration of newborn health into IMCI programs locally, and then expanded to regions and nationally.  NGOs see equity as a part of social justice, and focus on the delivery of effective services to all.  The task of reaching the most underserved communities and bringing interventions to scale must be considered first when programs are designed and implemented.  This is the only way to ensure these programs can become sustainable and result in universal coverage.”      

5.  Question:  What is the role of the private sector in the scaling-up of interventions for the achievement of MDGs 4 and 5? 

Ms. Kate Taylor, Vice President of Glaxo-Smith Pharmaceuticals:

“Glaxo-Smith Pharmaceuticals is currently involved in developing vaccines for malaria, HIV, TB, and cervical cancer and so plays a key role in the development of interventions for MNCH.  The private sector can also contribute to the scaling-up of effective MNCH intervention through the following:

  1. Products and services - service and information technologies that greatly impact MNCH programs;
  2. Skills and expertise - the private sector provides health services, and knows a lot about different financial strategies;
  3. Resources - the private sector contributes human resources and capital for the health sector;
  4. Advocacy and communication - we talk to the G8 and Ministries of Finance and conduct marketing activities to interact with communities about service needs.
  5. Philanthropy:  This area is least sustainable and it is a ‘half-contribution’”.
Dr Peter Salama concluded the session emphasizing the need to ensure that accountability and human rights are embedded in the process of scaling-up interventions through a common monitoring and evaluation framework.  The establishment of this framework must define the role of donors, civil society, governments, private sector and communities in the development of interventions and in the monitoring and evaluation process.