The 2012 Asia Regional Meeting on Interventions for Impact in Essential Obstetric and Newborn Care was designed to assist country programs, donors, and governments in developing and implementing comprehensive and innovative programs to address public health priorities in maternal and newborn health.
Entitled Interventions for Impact in Essential Obstetric and Newborn Care—captures the highlights of the May 2012 Asia Regional Meeting in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It reviews the remarkable progress being made in the Asia region toward achieving Millennium Development Goal 5 (reducing maternal deaths by 75% from 1990 to 2015), and makes clear that these efforts must be sustained.
The Asia Regional Meeting was designed to assist country programs, donors and governments in developing and implementing comprehensive and innovative programs to address public health priorities in maternal and newborn health. It was with this intention that the meeting was conducted with clear “before, during, and after” components:
- Before: Engagement of key stakeholders prior to the meeting helped to ensure an appropriate balance of high-level decision makers and implementers among participants. Before traveling to Dhaka, country teams met in their home countries to discuss their particular context and to frame key issues for focus during the meeting. Arrangements were also made to widen participation through online engagement for those unable to attend in person.
- During: The meeting focused on evidence-based interventions to improve maternal and neonatal health. In addition to presentations, plenary discussions, and satellite sessions, participants met as country teams to discuss the priorities for the maternal and newborn health programs in their own countries.
- After: These teams left the meeting with clear outlines of priority interventions to either introduce or expand in country, as well as immediate steps to disseminate the meeting information to their colleagues. MCHIP is continuing to promote the adoption and expansion of key interventions for maternal and newborn survival through individual follow-up with country teams to support next steps and identify needs for technical assistance.