Community Involvement

In Africa, most of the causes of maternal, newborn and under-five deaths can be prevented with the existing cost-effective interventions. However, ensuring universal access and utilization of the key interventions remains a challenge. Mothers and children continue to die due to the triple delays in seeking appropriate care, reaching the health facility and receiving the appropriate management at the facility.

Lessons learnt from maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) services show that, community empowerment, participation and ownership of locally-based interventions are essential for increasing utilization and access to services. This calls for the involvement of the community in the planning, implementation and monitoring of community-based health services. The Community component of the MPS programme is focusing on strengthening country capacity in empowering and involving communities to scale up interventions for MNH services and make them sustainable.