Aid in Action

Turning Policy into Practice

Ministry of Health Launches District Guidance to Accelerate Improvements in Maternal, Newborn and Child Health

 | Monday, November 27, 2006

In 2001, the Ministry of Health (MOH) put into policy an important ten-year strategy to improve maternal and neonatal health: Making Pregnancy Safer (MPS). After five years of implementation, officials noted that progress was slow. The MOH cited a lack of clear district-level guidance as the main barrier to accelerating improvements and achieving its commitment to the United Nations Millenium Development Goals for maternal and child health.

During a national MOH workshop held from November 15-16 in Makassar, South Sulawesi, the Ministry introduced draft implementing guidelines for the MPS Strategy. Developed with technical assistance from the USAID Health Services Program, the guidelines are an effective tool for turning policy into practice at the district level because they:

• expand the Making Pregnancy Safer strategy to include the health of under-five children;

• provide practical guidance about how to plan, budget and implement programs that will address a district’s most pressing maternal, newborn and child health problems;

• reflect the strategies of a range of MOH Directorates; and

• include evidence-based practices that are endorsed by the professional associations of obstetricians, pediatricians and midwives.

Attended by the Directors of 12 Provincial Health Offices, the workshop was designed to help districts to obtain the funding and technical support they need to turn the MPS policy into practice. USAID will continue its support to the MOH as it develops and documents a district model for a high impact and evidence-based package of maternal, neonatal and child interventions.

Progress cannot be made without an increase in resources.  To support the pilot testing of the draft guidelines, the Minister of Health committed to providing Rp. 4 billion ($444,000) for Eastern Indonesia to replicate a basic obstetric and neonatal emergency training program that was developed with USAID support.