Child Survival

Many national development agendas and plans do not make adequate financial provisions for child health despite the fact that most African countries are seriously 'off-track' to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Child Survival (CS) by 2015. There is ample evidence that more than 60 percent of current child deaths under 5 years of age can be prevented by delivering high impact interventions. It is critical to raise awareness at the highest political and policy levels.

Africa 2010 focuses its activities on the following five areas:

Community Approaches to Improve Child Health

Most child deaths under 5 occur in the home and where no visit was made to a health facility. With a set of high-impact child survival interventions, community and home care can prevent half of these deaths.

The project pays attention to improved treatment of acute respiratory infections (ARI), diarrhea, malaria, and measles at the community level, along with a reduction of immunization dropouts. Programs incorporate proven best practices as well as provide technical assistance to develop communication strategies that incorporate community approaches. Working closely with USAID missions and other partners the project provides technical assistance for:

• Development and implementation of effective community-based child health interventions at scale, with particular attention to improved treatment of ARI, diarrhea, malaria and measles
• Documentation and dissemination of best community practices to reduce immunization dropouts
• Development of appropriate communication strategies for community-based approaches

Promoting Private Sector Engagement

Private providers and the private sector more broadly constitute a huge resource for improving community health outcomes. Over 50 percent of childhood illnesses are treated in the non-state sector in many African countries. Africa's Health in 2010 is working on successful approaches to document effective use of private providers for management of childhood illnesses, especially at the community level. Specifically, the project focuses on:

• Documentation and dissemination of state-of-the-art strategies to effectively engage the private sector to improve and expand CS coverage at the community level
• Development and documentation of strategies to increase public sector stewardship of private sector interventions

Newborn Health

Globally, four million babies die every year during the neonatal period, more than a quarter in Africa. The health and survival of an infant is closely linked to that of the mother, hence the need for attention to improved maternal health and survival in Africa through mother-to-child transmission ( MTCT) prevention programs, tetanus toxoid immunizations, and prevention and treatment of malaria. In collaboration with other partners, the project concentrates its efforts on:

• Scaling up programs on MTCT prevention, tetanus toxoid and intermittent preventive treatment of malaria during pregnancy
• Integration of newborn with maternal and child health programs and documentation of state-of-the-art interventions
• Capacity building at the regional and national level to implement integrated Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) programs

Pediatric HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS is a major cause of infant and childhood morbidity and mortality in African countries. It accounts for as high as up to two-thirds of all under 5 child deaths. Over 95 percent of the infections occur through MTCT, which happens during pregnancy, labor, delivery or breastfeeding. The project provides technical assistance for the following activities to reduce MTCT significantly:

• Scaling up of pediatric services for suspected and infected children
• Information, counseling, testing and other prevention and treatment services

Infant and Young Child Nutrition

Africa is the only region in the world where malnutrition continues to increase and most countries are not on target to reach MDG 1. Effective approaches, such as the 'essential nutrition actions,' have been implemented at scale in some countries with important l?ssons for replication and expansion. The World Bank and UNICEF are renewing focus on the problems of infant and child nutrition. The project focuses its work on:

• Scaling up programs to improve infant and young child nutrition, emphasizing exclusive breastfeeding and appropriate complementary feeding
• Advocacy to promote understanding and support for essential actions to improve child nutrition at country-level and among donors
• Mobilization of resources for infant and child nutrition in Africa
• Incorporation of infant and young child nutrition into MNCH programs
• Promotion of African leadership and technical capacity to address infant and young child nutrition issues