Accelerator Updates
Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies
It’s been almost a month since the launch of the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Accelerator as part of the Bill & Melina Gates Foundation Goalkeepers 2019.
With our incredible partner commitments, The Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Accelerator is:
· Bringing together nearly $50M in financial and in-kind contributions
· Reaching more than 17.5 million pregnant women and their newborns with better health and nutrition through multiple micronutrient supplements
· Advocating for better care for pregnant women and newborns
We will be posting periodic updates about Accelerator progress, sharing the latest initiatives and successes from partners, and keeping you apprised of opportunities, key dates and events. We look forward to working with you in making an impact on maternal and newborn survival and health.
Key Dates:
November 4-8, Kathmandu, Nepal: Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Accelerator at the SUN Global Gathering during the Global Village Session: Micronutrient Deficiencies: Leveraging Global Moments for Local Progress.
November 11-12, Washington, DC, USA: Micronutrient Forum and New York Academy of Science are co-hosting a technical consultation on MMS Product Specification with input of several Accelerator partners. While this is an invitation-only meeting, a full report will be made available to Accelerator partners and shared more broadly with the micronutrient and maternal health communities.
March 23-27, Bangkok, Thailand: Micronutrient Forum 5th Global Conference. MMS and the Accelerator will be featured prominently throughout the conference and we will connect on what opportunities you can be a part of.
Accelerator Partner Spotlight: Nutrition International launches MMS Cost-Benefit Tool
As part of the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Accelerator, NI committed to developing an MMS Cost-Benefit Tool to give policymakers the information they need to evaluate cost-effectiveness of the IFA to MMS transition. On October 8, they made their commitment a reality and launched MOMS, the MMS cost-benefit tool. With country-specific data on the cost-effectiveness of MMS and the potential benefits of MMS introduction, the tool uses a rigorous methodology to calculate the incremental benefits and costs of transitioning from IFAS to MMS in various countries. We invite you to share this tool with colleagues and partners; it will be invaluable to aid countries’ decision-making and an excellent evidence-based advocacy tool to reinforce the call to countries to make the switch from IFA to MMS. Access the tool here.
Congratulations, Nutrition International.
If you have a milestone, an update or other news to share, please let us know at MMSAccelerator@micronutrientforum.org
The Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Accelerator will be featured during the Scaling Up Nutrition Global Gathering in Kathmandu, Nepal. it will be featured as part of a Global Village session on Wednesday, November 6 at 17:00 entitled Micronutrient Deficiencies: Leveraging Global Moments for Local Progress
As we prepare for three key events in 2020, the Second Global Fortification Summit and the Micronutrient Forum 5th Global Conference in March and the Nutrition for Growth Summit in December 2020, this discussion session will provide an opportunity for participants to share how they have used global moments and summits to achieve progress at the country level and reflect on how we will use upcoming opportunities in 2020.
The session will discuss how members of the SUN movement could leverage these events for real progress on the ground once everyone returns home and will be co-hosted by the Micronutrient Forum, GAIN and Harvest Plus. Nutrition-specific interventions, including food fortification, biofortification and supplementation are critical to preventing vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Country policies and programs are central to success, but global moments and commitments have been used strategically to accelerate progress.
Participants will hear two success stories of leveraging global moments for progress, including how the global Accelerator launch at the 2019 Goalkeepers Event facilitated the commitment from Myanmar in the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Accelerator to scale up multiple micronutrient supplements for pregnant women through the national health system. Dr, Saskia Osendarp will present the Accelerator and the launch at Goalkeepers 2019 and we hope she will be joined by the Republic of Myanmar Minister of Health and Sports, Dr. Myint Htwe or Republic of Myanmar SUN Country Focal Point Dr. Dr. Soe Oo as respondents. The other success story is from India and relates to fortification. The two case studies will be followed by a panel discussion, which will include in addition representatives from Nigeria, Indonesia and will be moderated by David Nabarro, strategic director 4SD. The panel will reflect on these experiences and how they might inform their country’s engagement with the Nutrition for Growth Summit in 2020.
If you are at the SUN Global Gathering, please join us for this event. If you won’t be attending, we are hoping the event will be captured on Facebook Live and we will share a link.
