The countdown is tracking and publicizing the progress of 68countries that account for most of the deaths of mothers and children. Experts working on thecampaign say 16 countries are on track to reduce mother and child deaths ? including Egypt, Morocco and Eritrea. But 26 of the 68 countries,including South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, to name a fewhaveexperienced an increase in the number of child mortality rates.
Ann Starrs is the presidentof Family Care International and the co-chair of the Board of the GlobalPartnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. She describes the situation in countries that are the focus of theCountdown to 2015 campaign, "When youlook at Africa there are a number of countries where child fatalities have gottenworse. Some of those countries are countries that are riddled with conflict,HIV, or the health facilities are just overwhelmed with dealing with such[a] crisis. There are also countries where there've been serious economicdownturns. So those countries where there's been a lack of health investmentsare our priority."
As part of the effort toimprove the health of mothers and infants, the Countdown initiative holdsregular international conferences that bring together policymakers and healthcare experts. One recent conference was held in Cape Town, South Africa. Starrs attended.
"We want the delegations tolook at the country-specific files, the data on what's happening or what's nothappening in their countries and to say, 'Okay we are really lagging at skilledattendants on delivery. So we need to invest more on or we need to prioritizeon this.' And they can learn from each other, some of the experts that are hereand hear what are some of the strategies and use that information to reallymake sure they invest more and that they invest more effectively ? so that weall achieve the target for 2015," she says.
Starrs says between 2003 and2006, donors have increased their aid from two billion dollars to three-and-ahalf billion. But health experts say that's less than a third of the amountstill needed to scale up interventions to promote maternal, newborn and childhealth. They say investment is neededin resources that will improve health systems throughout these 68 prioritycountries.