Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health

World Vision’s mission is to ensure every child experiences life in all its fullness — and that begins with the health and well-being of mothers and families. When mothers receive high-quality antenatal care, optimal childbirth services (including access to emergency care), and attentive postnatal care, their children are more likely to survive and thrive. In addition, children depend on caregivers having access to health promotion, disease prevention, and timely treatment of common childhood illnesses.

According to the World Health Organization, in 2023, over 700 women died each day from preventative causes related to pregnancy and childbirth — with approximately 92% of these deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries. For every woman who dies, many more suffer long-term health consequences. The loss of a mother threatens her newborn’s survival, her children’s future, and the stability of the entire household.

World Vision designs and supports whole health systems programming to improve maternal, newborn, and child health, applying a continuum of care and life-cycle lens. Our strategies are grounded in globally recognized health principles: they are evidence-based, aligned with government health policies, and designed to be people-centered, equity-driven, gender-responsive, accessible to the most vulnerable populations, and sustainable and accountable over the long term.

World Vision’s MNCH programming is anchored in three strategic pillars:

1. Social and Behavior Change: Empowering individuals, families, and communities with the knowledge and motivation to seek high-quality MNCH services and adopt healthy practices.
2. Health System Strengthening: Enhancing local health systems to deliver person-centered and effective care.
3. Enabling Environments: Fostering accountability and community ownership through community-led mechanisms.

Zambia: Survive to Thrive
The Survive to Thrive maternal and child health program is funded by private individual donors. Initially focused on Luwingu district in Zambia’s Northern Province, the program aimed to reduce morbidity and mortality for women of child-bearing age and children under five. Luwingu was selected due to its high child mortality and stunting rates, which are 8%–10% higher than the national average of 40%.

The program utilizes a two‐pronged approach: implementing proven preventive care interventions, including social and behavior change, and improving access to quality care and treatment.  A key focus is providing piped water to points of care and enhancing sanitation and hygiene at local health facilities. Building on programmatic success and strong partner support, the initiative has expanded to provide clean water and healthcare improvements at every healthcare facility where World Vision works.  

Key results to date:

• 51,704 women and 29,251 children under five have been directly reached through project interventions.
• The proportion of births attended by skilled birth attendants rose from 83% at baseline to 94% at midterm.
• Care seeking for sick children improved significantly, with the proportion taken to an appropriate provider (as per national protocols), increasing from 9.2% at baseline to 66% at midterm. 
• More than 15,000 children under five have been screened and treated for malaria, pneumonia, or diarrhea.
• 19 clinics in Luwingu district now have access to safe water within the facility, handwashing and sanitation infrastructure, supplies, and staff training.
• Project achievements led to scaling up a national-level plan to provide piped water inside the premise of every healthcare facility within existing World Vision area programs.
• A partnership was established with the University of North Carolina Water Institute to evaluate operation and maintenance strategies for WASH in healthcare facilities, drawing on existing literature and learnings from Zambia and Niger. 

Niger: Act 2 Save
The Act 2 Save project works to reduce high mortality rates of children under five across 18 communes in five regions of Niger. Funded by private individual donors, the project began in two regions and is now scaling across World Vision Niger area programs. In alignment with the government’s strategy, the project is helping address the leading contributors to child deaths — preventable infectious diseases such as malaria, diarrhea, and pneumonia.

About one-third of all deaths in children under 5 occur in the perinatal and infancy period, often due to neonatal sepsis, birth asphyxia, and congenital issues. With only two out of five deliveries taking place in health facilities, solutions are implemented both in communities and health facilities. 

Key interventions include training and equipping community health workers (CHWs) to provide integrated community case management (iCCM) of childhood illnesses and strengthening healthcare facilities with improved water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure, training, and supportive environments for quality care. 

Key results to date:

• 400 CHWs trained and actively providing iCCM services for 67,500 children in 206 villages..
• 275 healthcare facility staff trained in integrated management of childhood illness and infection prevention and control, helping improve care quality.
• Program success has led to an approved expansion plan to bring clean water and healthcare improvements to every healthcare facility everywhere World Vision works in Niger.

Check out this video for more on the Act 2 Save project

Uganda: Expanding Access to Immunization and Treatment
In partnership with The Pfizer Foundation, the Expanding Access to Immunization and Treatment program worked to reduce mortality among 85,743 children under five in Bugiri District. Launched in 2020, the project combined curative and preventive interventions to address childhood illnesses, improved demand and uptake of child health services at the community level, strengthened systems and structures, and enhanced the child health information and supply system.

Key results:

• Screened 208,935 children for infectious disease 
• Reached 178,806 people with education on disease prevention and management 
• Supported 260 healthcare facilities with capacity building to improve quality infectious disease care 
• Trained 1,000 village health team members to actively provide iCCM 
• Trained 396 health facility staff in integrated management of childhood illness and iCCM
• Trained and mentored 821 community health workers on the use of CommCare applications to facilitate digital health implementation  

Rwanda: INGOBYI
The USAID-funded INGOBYI program (July 2018–May 2023) aimed to reduce infant and maternal mortality and the incidence of malaria by improving the availability of reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health and malaria services with a focus on resilience and sustainability.

Covering 20 districts in Rwanda, the program’s key objectives included improving health-seeking behaviors, strengthening savings groups to improve financial access to health services, raising awareness of community-based health insurance, and empowering community members through local-level advocacy platforms. 

Key results:

• 119 savings groups with 2,128 members were coached and mentored
• Citizen Voice and Action trainings were held among 26 district referral hospitals
• 11,720 participants engaged in local-level advocacy using scorecards to assess health service delivery and champion improvements