The Ministry of Health (MoH) led the development of the Newborn and Child Health Strategic Plan, with technical collaboration from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). A short review was undertaken to ascertain the status of newborn and child health programmes and to identify the current strengths and gaps to be addressed. Several meetings and a participatory national workshop followed, with a wide variety of stakeholders, to build consensus on the strategy within the Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) framework. The strategic plan is broadly divided in two parts. Part one has the contextual information, situational analysis, goal, objectives, major strategic directions, guiding principles and targets. Part two consists of the list of interventions by delivery mode, prioritized thrust areas, strategies with indicative activities, strategic information, indicators, implementation mechanism and costing methodology.
The main thrust areas of the strategic plan are identified based on epidemiological profile, high impact interventions and current status. These are (a) newborn care, (b) management of common illnesses, (c) engaging communities/communications for newborn and child survival and cross-sectoral coordination.