This year's event will be held on July 26th in Washington, D.C., bringing together a host of inspiring innovators, implementers, and pioneers working in the field of maternal and newborn health. By assembling leading innovators, development experts  and potential funders, the Development^XChange is a crucial part of Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development and serves a major role in building a community to help meet the many challenges facing mothers and children across the globe.

Promising candidates for Round 8 awards will come together with current SL@B innovators for a global summit on tackling the challenge of maternal, newborn and neonatal mortality that is sure to be memorable on many levels.

As the event draws closer, we will have more details to share about the 8th annual Development ^XChange and how to be involved. Be sure to keep an eye on our Twitter account for regular updates by following @GCDSavinglives. To register please click here.

A large study involving nearly 200,000 children across three African countries has concluded that two doses annually of the antibiotic azithromycin may be effective in reducing infant mortality rates by as much as 25%. Referred to as the "Mordor Trial" and recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the study (funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) found that mortality amongst postneonatal children in sub-Saharan Africa was lower in communities where azithromycin was distributed en masse than in communities assigned a placebo.

However, some experts argue that implementation of a policy with guidelines for mass distribution of antibiotics would need to take into strong consideration the potential for antibiotic resistance to materialize as a result.

 

 

International Day of the Midwife was recognized on May 5, 2018. Earlier this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) published new guidelines for antenatal care and care during childbirth, which included recommendations for midwives to take a larger role in providing continuity of care throughout pregnancy, childbirth and post-childbirth. These guidelines have helped reduce the prevalence of preterm births by as much as 24% and may be a key factor in improving the health of infants globally.

According to WHO Chief Nursing Officer Elizabeth Iro, midwifery standards must be regulated and opportunities for skills' development should be provided in order to maximize the potential of support midwives can provide to pregnant women and new mothers. Iro points to evidence revealing that midwives who are equipped with these skills and competencies are able to provide 87% of all essential sexual, reproductive, maternal and newborn health services globally. The role of midwifery will be the theme of 2019's Global Strategy for Women's, Children's and Adolescent's Health 2016-2030.

   

 

Download the 2018 Monitoring Report 

In a recent Opinion piece for DevEx, the authors  discuss the potential for a "blended finance" model to fund the interventions and programs, estimated to cost $5-7 trillion annually, that are necessary to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A mix of public and private financial resources, blended finance involves leveraging development finance to assist innovators in accessing  private capital. An estimated $81 billion in blended finance was mobilized to eliminate poverty and protect the planet between 2012-2015, according to Convergence.

The article argues  that although blended finance investments could be key in bringing numerous actors to work together at distinct stages of a project's life cycle, there are also challenges to be navigated. "If blended finance stands a chance of meeting the trillion-dollar investment gap, development funders must develop a clear-eyed understanding of when it is an effective approach, and what role they can play to best support the investment," they state.