$ 20.6 billion to help women, newborns, young children and adolescents

Secured funding for the recovery of health and social services lost from COVID-19

December 10, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic threatens to improve health and social services for women, infants, children and adolescents for three decades.

The well-being of this vulnerable group is affected more than others by disruptions in basic health, food and social services since the pandemic, according to senior health experts from The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH), a global alliance of more than 1,000 organizations hosted World Health Organization (WHO).

In a huge effort to rebuild collapsed services for women, infants, children and adolescents, a group of high-income, low- and middle-income countries has committed $ 20.6 billion to protect this group. $ 6.6 billion (32%) of the total pledge comes from money committed by low- and middle-income countries themselves, including Afghanistan, India, Kenya, Liberia and Nigeria. An additional $ 14 billion (68%) comes from official development assistance and grants from Germany, Canada, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Recent WHO data from 105 countries show that 90 percent of countries have experienced disruptions in health services, and low- and middle-income countries report the greatest difficulties.

Some of the most commonly disrupted services include those related to: immunization services (facility-based services: 61 percent and field services: 70 percent) and family planning and contraception services: 68 percent.

Maternal mortality rates decreased by 38 percent worldwide between 2000 and 2017. However, about 25,000 women died each month during and after pregnancy and childbirth, 2017. Similarly, while the mortality rate for children under 5 years of age decreased by 60 percent since 1990, about 5.2 million children under the age of five continue to die each year from a preventable cause before a pandemic.

According to early estimates of the indirect impact of COVID-19 on child and maternal mortality, more than 2 million additional infant and maternal mortality rates are estimated over 12 months (2020–2021) above pre-pandemic levels due to essential health disorders and food services.

The pain of the pandemic itself adds to the forecast of a reduction of at least 5 percent of the global economy. Recent forecasts also indicate that global poverty is rising for the first time since 1998, with an estimated 47 million women and girls pushed into extreme poverty. This will increase the total number of women and girls living in extreme poverty to 435 million, and projections show that this number will not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2030.

As of November 2020, 2.8 million children and adolescents have contracted COVID-19 in 87 countries. That’s more than 10 percent of the 25.7 million infections in those countries.

Recent UNESCO data show that in April this year, the closure of educational institutions in 195 countries affected 1.5 billion students, leading to the loss of school meals and critical impacts on children’s nutrition.

“The health and well-being of women, children and adolescents are now at high risk, and inequalities are exacerbated by narrowing access to basic health services such as antenatal care, professional childbirth assistance, postnatal care, immunization and family planning. It is our concern that resources – insufficient to begin with – are being diverted to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, ”explains Helen Clark, PMNCH president and former New Zealand prime minister.

“These findings show how weak our health systems are in protecting women, infants, children and adolescents and how essential basic primary health care is to saving lives and protecting rights,” she adds.

PMNCH issued 7 points Call to action in response to the devastating effects of COVID-19 on the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents. It calls on leaders to protect and prioritize their rights and health during the response and recovery to COVID-19 by strengthening political commitment, policies and funding for vital health services and social protection, especially for the most vulnerable.

Countries have responded to this call with these financial and political commitments to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic from becoming a permanent crisis.

Commitments will begin Dec. 11 at the Living in Balance, a global online summit to determine how COVID-19 is impacting progress toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The event, hosted by PMNCH, UHC 2030 and CORE Group, takes place on the eve of UHC Day on 12 December (www.livesinthebalancesummit2.org).

$ 20.6 billion in funding to help women, newborns, children and adolescents

The promises of the countries increase investments in:

• Health care and well-being of mothers, newborns, children and adolescents;
• Strengthening health systems;
• Nutrition, food safety and social protection programs;
• Sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Given the indirect effects of the pandemic on women and adolescents, some prioritize policies, programs, or services to address gender equality and gender-based violence. These multi-sector country commitments will contribute to the implementation of the Call to Action, helping women, adolescents and children to have access to health services and priority social protection throughout the COVID-19 crisis and recovery period.

$ 16.1 billion (78%) are new liabilities to address COVID-19, $ 2.2 billion (10.8%) are new non-COVID-19 liabilities, and $ 2.3 billion 2%) are liabilities for the protection of existing liabilities / budgets of RMNCAH.

“This funding will provide women, children and adolescents with access to health services and priority social protection throughout the crisis and recovery period from COVID-19,” says Helen Clark of PMNCH.

Here are the individual promises:

• Afghanistan – $ 176.6 million during 2020-2023 to combat the COVID-19 challenge and to improve the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents.
• India – Two billion dollars during 2020-2021 to strengthen all levels of care in response to the pandemic and to provide basic public health functions with an increased focus on women, children and adolescents and the most vulnerable.
• Kenya – $ 2.2 billion during 2021-2022 to provide universal health insurance to guarantee quality and affordable health care, with additional funding dedicated to the Strategy for Economic Recovery after Independence, Social Cohesion and Social Protection after COVID-19.
• Liberia – $ 10.65 million in 2021 to improve the health and well-being of women, children and adolescents, support and build the capacity of health care providers, provide safe and affordable drinking water, sanitation and hygiene requirements as part of the COVID-19 incidence management system, and guarantee availability of critical life-saving equipment and medicines to ensure access to quality health care for women, children and adolescents.
• Nigeria – $ 2.3 billion during 2020 – 2028 for strategic interventions that protect reproductive health, the health of mothers, newborns, children, adolescents and the elderly through access to family planning services; immunization; and food programs.
• Canada – $ 2.89 billion during 2019-2024. As a global response to COVID-19, placing gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls at the heart of this response by investing in a fair and affordable approach to testing and vaccination; including strengthening and fencing of $ 937 million as funding for the SRHR; new and earmarked funding for the prevention of violence against women; and ensuring access to reproductive health products and significant youth engagement.
• Germany – $ 5.3 billion in bi- and multilateral contributions to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020-2022; including $ 120 million to ensure globally fair, equitable and transparent access to COVID-19 vaccines; and $ 210 million to protect the health and rights of women, children, and adolescents, maintaining health systems with a focus on the needs of women and girls in the context of sexual and reproductive health through multilateral agencies and the Global Fund for Funding (GFF).
• Sida (Sweden) – $ 165.67 million of additional funding for the COVID-19 crisis and allowing flexibility in existing funding for the period 2020-21, $ 53 million for the protection of sexual and reproductive health and rights services and the promotion of gender response in the COVID-19 crisis through integrated efforts in health, strengthening the health system and ensuring access to maternity care, contraception and safe abortion care during and after a pandemic
• United Kingdom – Up to £ 1.3 billion ($ 1.7 billion) of new funds to combat the health, humanitarian and socio-economic impacts of COVID-19; and committed up to £ 500 million ($ 665 million) for COVAX, to support equal access to COVID-19 vaccines during 2020-2021.
• United States of America – $ 1.3 billion for the global fight against COVID-19 to improve public health education; protect health facilities; and increase the capacity of laboratories, surveillance and rapid response in more than 100 countries by 2020. This includes the delivery of country-specific diagnostics and treatment and measures to ensure safe delivery of basic health and nutrition to mother and child through improved WASH infection control in healthcare facilities.
• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – $ 1.75 billion over 2020-2021 to support global efforts to respond to COVID-19 to accelerate the search for effective coronavirus vaccines and drugs to ensure that, once available, they are delivered quickly and affordably. With new efforts in response, the foundation will continue to provide support in protecting the health and well-being of women and children, including strengthening the primary health care system and improving the quality of care provided through basic health care.

“How important this $ 20.6 billion is will only partially solve the problem of providing basic basic services for women, infants, young children and adolescents,” says Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary of Health and Family Care, Government of India. “Comprehensive efforts and collective advocacy are needed to ensure the availability of significantly improved funding for this noble cause,” he adds.

Consider these facts:

• Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the under-five mortality rate was three times higher in 36 countries classified by the World Bank as fragile compared to non-fragile ones.
• In the least developed countries, the maternal mortality rate, defined as the number of maternal mortality per 100,000 live births, was more than 40 times higher than in Europe.

New and better financing ideas

“Although we have achieved a dramatic reduction in child and maternal mortality over the last 30 years, large inequalities remain in and within countries, and are only exacerbated as a socio-economic consequence of COVID-19,” said Anuradha Gupta, GAVI’s deputy executive director. Vaccine Alliance and Chairman of the PMNCH Strategy Committee.

“Women and girls in particular are disproportionately affected simply because of their gender. The global community must come together to adopt financing strategies that improve capital, targeting the most vulnerable people most affected. ”

In addition to added funding, all health professionals agree that health funds need to be better spent. Evidence prior to COVID-19 over the past 10 years reveals that an estimated 20-40 percent of health expenditures are spent globally due to inefficiency and corruption.

To improve the efficiency of health financing, the Global Finance Facility (GFF), a joint UN-World Bank initiative, prioritizes spending through investment case development, encourages results-based financing, and helps coordinate and monitor spending through instruments such as Resource mapping and expense tracking tool.

These efforts are generating greater precision in providing interventions that will help most women, infants, children, and adolescents, including through the current COVID-19 crisis.

Media contacts

Marshall Hoffman, H&H Worldwide, +1 703 533-3535, +1 703 801-8602 (mob); [email protected]

Nils Hoffman, H&H Video, + 703 967-1490; [email protected]

For the UK and Europe: Juliet Heller, Head of H&H: [email protected]

For Canada: Terry Collins, Head of H&H: [email protected]

For Africa: Reuben Kyama, Head of H&H: [email protected]

For Latin America: Liliana Hisas, Head of H&H: [email protected]