Maternal and Infant Health Advocacy: A Critical Issue for Global Development
Maternal and infant health is a key indicator of the well-being and development of a population. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), maternal health refers to “the health of women during pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period” while infant health refers to “the health of children from birth to 12 months of age” (WHO, 2021). Both maternal and infant health are influenced by a range of factors, such as access to quality health care, nutrition, sanitation, education, gender equality, social protection, and environmental conditions. Improving maternal and infant health is not only a moral obligation, but also a strategic investment for sustainable development, as it can reduce poverty, enhance human capital, promote gender equality, and foster social cohesion.
However, despite the global progress made in reducing maternal and infant mortality and morbidity in recent decades, significant challenges and inequalities remain. According to the WHO, in 2017, an estimated 295,000 women died from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth, 94% of them in low- and lower-middle-income countries (LMICs). Moreover, an estimated 2.5 million newborns died in their first month of life in 2018, and another 2.6 million were stillborn. The majority of these deaths occurred in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where access to quality maternal and newborn care is limited or nonexistent. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the existing gaps and barriers in maternal and infant health services, especially for the most marginalized and vulnerable groups, such as women and children living in humanitarian and fragile settings, rural areas, urban slums, or remote communities.
Therefore, there is an urgent need for more effective and comprehensive advocacy for maternal and infant health at the global, regional, national, and local levels. Advocacy is defined as “the process of influencing people to create change” (Buse et al., 2012). Advocacy can take various forms and strategies, such as raising awareness, generating evidence, mobilizing resources, building partnerships, engaging stakeholders, influencing policies, and monitoring progress. Advocacy can also target different audiences and decision-makers, such as governments, donors, multilateral agencies, civil society organizations, media outlets, health professionals, religious leaders, community members, and beneficiaries. The main goal of advocacy for maternal and infant health is to ensure that every woman and child has the right to survive and thrive.
The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the current situation of maternal and infant health in LMICs; to identify the main challenges and opportunities for advocacy; to analyze some successful examples of advocacy initiatives; and to provide some recommendations for future actions.
Current Situation of Maternal and Infant Health in LMICs
According to the latest data from the WHO (2021), the global maternal mortality ratio (MMR) declined by 38% between 2000 and 2017,
from 342 to 211 deaths per 100,000 live births. However,
this rate is still far from the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of less than 70 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030. Moreover,
there are wide disparities between regions and countries. For instance,
sub-Saharan Africa has the highest MMR in the world,
with 533 deaths per 100,000 live births,
followed by Southern Asia with 163 deaths per 100
