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Program Approach :
Policy and Advocacy
Policy and Advocacy
 National safe motherhood rally ACCESS plays a lead role in advocating for policies and
programs to improve maternal and newborn health and survival. Policy change may
involve developing new policies, reforming existing policies, or eliminating
policies that serve as barriers to effective programs and services. Policies
are essential because they determine the priorities, objectives, roles and
responsibilities, standards, operational mechanisms, and resources needed for
program development, implementation and evaluation.
The program’s activities include work with global, national and
local alliances to draw attention, commitment and resources to the cause of
maternal and newborn health. The goals of program are to improve access to
high-quality maternal and newborn health services, increase resource allocation
for maternal and neonatal health, strengthen collaboration, and support long-term
sustainability.
Global, National and Local Alliances
ACCESS promotes a multi-sectoral, participatory approach to
policymaking and program implementation. ACCESS collaborates with the World Health
Organization; the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health; the Healthy
Newborn Partnership; the White Ribbon Alliance; the International Confederation of
Midwives; the Malaria in Pregnancy Working Group; and other organizations,
including faith-based organizations. ACCESS also works to strengthen local networks
and alliances and to link them to global coalitions to help mobilize interagency
collaboration on maternal and newborn health.
Through global and local alliances,
ACCESS provides leadership in:
- Increasing international, national and subnational attention
and commitment to maternal and newborn health care
- Developing strategies that increase equity for the most
vulnerable
- Integrating approaches to strengthen and expand essential
maternal and newborn care into existing health systems
Policies and Guidelines
ACCESS also works to influence and support the development
and implementation of national policies, guidelines and health systems that contribute
to key maternal and newborn health programs. This includes, for example:
- Ensuring that accurate and up-do-date information is
provided to decision makers for policymaking
- Providing technical assistance to improve planning and
financing of maternal and neonatal health programs
- Improving the content of curricula and education
systems for maternal and newborn health professionals
- Addressing policy barriers, such as limits on which
personnel can provide maternal and newborn care services
- Ensuring that key maternal and newborn health
indicators are included in routine information systems and periodic national
sample surveys
- Educating and advocating with donors and stakeholders
to make maternal and newborn health a high priority
Policy Analysis
ACCESS uses a variety of policy and advocacy techniques
and tools that can be used to stimulate policy dialogue and strategic planning for
maternal and newborn health. Among the models and tools used by the ACCESS Program to
support policy and planning are Constella Futures’s Safe Motherhood
Model and AED’s REDUCE and ALIVE
models.
The policy tools effectively integrate both quantitative and qualitative data
for decision-making and encourage the participation of affected groups. The tools take
into account "real world" issues such as resource allocation and gender in addition to
political, economic, and cultural factors. Safe Motherhood Model and REDUCE and
ALIVE are interactive computer models that estimate the consequences of
maternal and newborn illness and death rate in specific national contexts.
These models are intended to:
- Support priority-setting dialogue by supporting improved
maternal and newborn health action plans, with increased efficiency in the use of
funding resources
- Create a better dialogue between all stakeholders regarding
maternal and newborn health priorities
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