More quality product, better used

• Increasing availability
  There is a market for quality, essential medicines and health products.
• Expanding access
  Affordable, quality commodities should be procured, distributed and stocked in health clinics.
• Improving utilization
  The best medicines and health products will only be adopted if providers and end users know about them, when and how best to use them.

UN Commission on Information and Accountability (CoIA)

New commitments in support of Every Woman Every Child represent a major step towards filling the gap between the investment needed and what is currently provided for women’s and children’s health. These investments will be measured and tracked to ensure accountability for commitments, actions and results.

The Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health calls for the World Health Organization (WHO) to chair a process to determine the most effective international institutional arrangements for ensuring global reporting, oversight and accountability on women’s and children’s health.

In response, a Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health was created, which proposed a framework for global reporting, oversight and accountability on women’s and children’s health. Through ten recommendations presented in its report Keeping Promises, Measuring Results, the Commission has created a system to track whether donations for women’s and children’s health are made on time, resources are spent wisely and transparently, and whether the desired results are achieved.

The accountability framework proposed by the Commission will:

• Track results and resource flows at global and country levels;
• Identify a core set of indicators and measurement needs for women’s and children’s health;
• Propose steps to improve health information and registration of vital events – births and deaths – in low-income countries;
• Explore opportunities for innovation in information technology to improve access to reliable information on resources and outcomes.

The World Health Organization has launched a new web site on results, resources and oversight related to women’s and children’s health, in support of Every Woman Every Child. The site will track progress on the implementation of the recommendations of the Accountability Commission and inform the international community about the work of the independent Expert Review Group (iERG).

• 2014 Accountability For Women’s and Children’s Health Report
• 2013 Commission workplan on translating the recommendations into action
• Report of the Commission: Keeping Promises, Measuring Results
• Press Release, 19 May 2011. Also available in French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Arabic

independent Expert Review Group (iERG)

On the issue of global reporting, the Commission proposed a time-limited independent Expert Review Group (iERG) be established and operate until 2015:

The Commission requested WHO to lead a transparent process to establish the iERG. A Selection Committee was convened to assess the potential candidates and propose a short list. The iERG is comprised of 7 members. Appointed individuals are expected to exercise autonomous, professional judgment and serve in an independent capacity.

Please see the Terms of Reference  of the iERG for more information:

• Read the first report of the independent Expert Review Group: “Every Woman Every Child: From Commitments to Action”
• Read the second report of the independent Expert Review Group: “Every Woman, Every Child: Strengthening Equity and Dignity through Health
• Read the third report of the independent Expert Review Group: “Every Woman, Every Child: A Post-2015 Vision”
• Download the final report of the independent Expert Review Group: “Every Woman, Every Child, Every Adolescent: Achievements and Prospects”

The World Health Organization has launched a new web site on results, resources and oversight related to women’s and children’s health, in support of Every Woman Every Child. The site will track progress on the implementation of the recommendations of the Accountability Commission and inform the international community about the work of the independent Expert Review Group (iERG).

EWEC Everywhere

When Every Woman Every Child (EWEC) launched its new Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s, and Adolescent’s Health (the Global Strategy) in September 2015, it recognized for the first time, the power of the “settings” in which people live to shape dramatically their prospects for health and well-being. New attention needed to be giving to the vulnerable conditions in which too many women and children live, and the new Global Strategy named “settings” as one of its nine priorities, calling on humanitarian and development actors to redouble efforts to work better together to build health and resilience among the women, children, and adolescents who live in the most fragile and volatile circumstances. Advocating for greater focus on contexts, settings, risks and crises, the Everywhere work stream brings together key actors from both the humanitarian and development sectors, to identify conceptual, policy and programming opportunities to better support the health of women, children and adolescents in all settings everywhere.

Implementing the Global Strategy for Women’s Children’s and Adolescents’ Health Everywhere[Report]—Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 4-5 April 2016

Live from the Word Government Summit in Dubai—12 February 2016
Princess Sarah Zeid of Jordan, the co-chair of EveryWhere, discusses RMNCAH in fragile and humanitarian settings as a key element to end preventable deaths among women, children, and adolescents.

Resilience, Response and Recovery: Reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health [Meeting summary]
Urgently addressing and supporting women’s, newborns’, children’s and adolescents’ health in fragile and conflict settings is key to the success of the Post-2015 Agenda, says group of experts meeting in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, February 10-11, 2015

Abu Dhabi Declaration, February 2015
Development and humanitarian experts in reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNC&A health), who, in February 2015, met in Abu Dhabi UAE, urge the global community to join them in upholding this declaration for the dignity, health and wellbeing of every woman and every child—in humanitarian and fragile settings.

Kaila! – Pacific Voice for Action on Agenda 2030—1 December 2015
As the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference gets underway in Paris, Pacific island nations are emphasizing the devastating impact of climate change not only from an environmental perspective, but also on reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health.

Opinion: Integrating Water, Sanitation and Health are Key to the Promise of the UN Global Goals—By H.R.H. Princess Sarah Zeid
AMMAN, 30 October 2015 [Inter Press Service]—The solutions to women’s and children’s dignity, health and wellbeing lie well beyond the health sector alone, and demand instead an integrated approach, including solutions that deliver water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in health and in education.

“Every Woman Every Child Every Adolescent Every Where” Financing sexual reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health in every setting
A contribution to the renewed  Global Strategy for Every Woman Every Child  Outcomes of Experts meeting held 22-23 June 2015, Washington, USA

Comment: For every woman, every child, everywhere: a universal agenda for the health of women, children, and adolescents [The Lancet]—15 May 2015
Preventable mortality and morbidity among women, adolescents, and children are severe in humanitarian settings. Data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on 50 fragile states show that 60% of preventable maternal deaths, 53% of deaths in children younger than 5 years, and 45% of neonatal deaths take place in fragile settings of conflict, displacement, and natural disasters. Worldwide, women and children are up to 14 times more likely than men to die in a disaster.