Community Health Groups for Maternal and Newborn Health

Communities have the answers to their most pressing health problems. Through the creation of health groups, they can come together to find successful solutions.

Participatory Learning and Action for Maternal and Newborn Health (PLA-MNH) is for the 300,000 women and 3,200,000 babies that die during pregnancy, delivery and up to one month after birth.

PLA-MNH is an effective, cost-effective, equitable, sustainable and scalable approach to improve maternal and newborn health and reduce mortality. It is the world leading community mobilisation approach, is recommended by the World Health Organization and enshrined in the Every Newborn Action Plan.

See the groups in action

our RECENT MATERNAL HEALTH PROJECTs

WOMEN’s STORIES FROM COMMUNITIEs

Join the community of practice for PLA

HOW WE’RE ADAPTING COMMUNITY GROUPS for OTHER HEALTH PROBLEMS

Adesi and Feston’s story

Adesi lives in rural Malawi and recently gave birth safely to a beautiful boy, Feston.

But she wasn’t always certain things would turn out this way. She felt overwhelmed by how many barriers stood in the way: How can I get to the health facility when the time comes, it’s so far? How can I feed myself and my baby, I don’t have enough money?

Adesi’s friends encouraged her to join the PLA-MNH group in her village where she met other women just like her.

Collaborating with other community members they addressed each and every barrier so when the time came, Adesi could use the group bicycle ambulance to get to a health facility and was able to harvest nutritious vegetables from the group garden.

The problem

Women, children and young people, particularly those living in Lower Income Countries (LICs), face a daily struggle to achieve their potential.

Sadly, for many, the struggle is simply to survive.

While maternal deaths have fallen by around 45 per cent over the past two decades, 800 women still die every day - including 190 adolescents - from preventable causes linked to pregnancy and child birth.

Over half of these deaths are due to preventable or treatable conditions such as haemorrhage, hypertensive disorders, sepsis and obstructed labour.

Newborn deaths – children under one month of age – have also reduced, but 2.6 million still occur every year. That's over 7,000 per day. Additionally, estimates show a further 2.6 million stillbirths per year.

Most of these deaths are due to premature birth, infections and complications of asphyxia, again all preventable or treatable conditions.

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 sets a target of reducing the global maternal deaths to less than 70 per 100,000 and newborn deaths to less than 12 per 1000 live births by 2030. So far, progress in most LICs is too slow to achieve this.

An effective solution

PLA-MNH involves forming mother and child groups. These are guided by trained local female facilitators through structured meetings in a four-phase action cycle where they:

Identify the most important health challenges
Design local solutions
Lead their communities to implement these solutions
Evaluate their results.

There is extensive evidence supporting their potential:

Effective: Seven cluster randomised controlled trials and a meta-analysis have shown that PLA-MNH can reduce maternal mortality by 49% and neonatal mortality by 33% when at least a third of pregnant women attend a group.

Cost-effective: By WHO standards, with a cost of between $1,457 to $8,670 per neonatal death averted.

Equitable: It is pro-poor and can contribute to an equitable reduction in neonatal mortality across socio-economic strata.

Sustainable: Up to 80% of groups remain active beyond the end of project funding.

Scalable: There is evidence PLA-MNH can be scaled through community health worker structures. In India, delivered through frontline health workers supported by the Ministry of Health, PLA-MNH reduced neonatal mortality by 24% (26% in the poorest quintiles) at a cost of $385 per death averted.

What we are doing now

Our history brings clarity to our role in relation to PLA-MNH in the future. We are uniquely placed to support scale-up globally, to ensure PLA-MNH reaches the communities where it can have the greatest impact.

We recognise our role as an ‘intermediator’ – uniquely positioned between the PLA-MNH approach and governments and stakeholders, with the capacity to deliver it at scale. Essentially the small cog that helps drive the big wheels!

To best leverage this role, we are working to position PLA-MNH ready for scale-up in countries where it can save thousands of lives every year.

We are advocating and working closely with national governments and their partners, supporting them in confirming its potential at national level. We are providing a comprehensive package of technical assistance to transfer knowledge and institutionalise PLA-MNH.

We have started in Ethiopia, Malawi and Tanzania, where we are already well placed to deliver this strategy. We remain open to working in other countries, if the potential to institutionalise PLA-MNH opens up.

Alongside scale-up, working on PLA-MNH for over 20 years has raised three key questions:

PLA works for maternal and newborn health. Are there other health issues PLA can help communities organise around and address?
PLA can be delivered by community health workers. Are there other ways to get PLA to the people who need it most?
PLA works in rural settings. Are there other settings where it could work?

Women and Children First is currently incubating a number of innovations to help answer these questions.

Why PLA-MNH?

1) PLA-MNH is the world leading community mobilization approach available for maternal and newborn health and the only one specifically recommended by the World Health Organization and enshrined in the Every Newborn Action Plan.

2) PLA-MNH is an effective, cost-effective, equitable, sustainable and scalable approach to improve maternal and newborn health and reduce mortality.

3) At scale PLA-MNH could save the lives of 350,000 mothers and newborns every year.

4) Women and Children First has developed a world class technical assistance package, that has successfully been used by partners to embed PLA-MNH and deliver community mobilisation programmes that have reached over 12.5 million people – and counting

© Women & Children First (UK)
Registered Charity No. 1085096
Registered Office: Women and Children First, 483 Green Lanes, London, N13 4BS
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7700 6309 | E-mail: info@womenandchildrenfirst.org.uk
Website Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy | Fundraising Promise
Stay close to us: Subscribe to our newsletter

Community Health Groups for Maternal and Newborn Health

Communities have the answers to their most pressing health problems. Through the creation of health groups, they can come together to find successful solutions.

Participatory Learning and Action for Maternal and Newborn Health (PLA-MNH) is for the 300,000 women and 3,200,000 babies that die during pregnancy, delivery and up to one month after birth.

PLA-MNH is an effective, cost-effective, equitable, sustainable and scalable approach to improve maternal and newborn health and reduce mortality. It is the world leading community mobilisation approach, is recommended by the World Health Organization and enshrined in the Every Newborn Action Plan.

See the groups in action

Adesi and Feston’s story

Adesi lives in rural Malawi and recently gave birth safely to a beautiful boy, Feston.

But she wasn’t always certain things would turn out this way. She felt overwhelmed by how many barriers stood in the way: How can I get to the health facility when the time comes, it’s so far? How can I feed myself and my baby, I don’t have enough money?

Adesi’s friends encouraged her to join the PLA-MNH group in her village where she met other women just like her.

Collaborating with other community members they addressed each and every barrier so when the time came, Adesi could use the group bicycle ambulance to get to a health facility and was able to harvest nutritious vegetables from the group garden.

The problem

Women, children and young people, particularly those living in Lower Income Countries (LICs), face a daily struggle to achieve their potential.

Sadly, for many, the struggle is simply to survive.

While maternal deaths have fallen by around 45 per cent over the past two decades, 800 women still die every day - including 190 adolescents - from preventable causes linked to pregnancy and child birth.

Over half of these deaths are due to preventable or treatable conditions such as haemorrhage, hypertensive disorders, sepsis and obstructed labour.

Newborn deaths – children under one month of age – have also reduced, but 2.6 million still occur every year. That's over 7,000 per day. Additionally, estimates show a further 2.6 million stillbirths per year.

Most of these deaths are due to premature birth, infections and complications of asphyxia, again all preventable or treatable conditions.

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 sets a target of reducing the global maternal deaths to less than 70 per 100,000 and newborn deaths to less than 12 per 1000 live births by 2030. So far, progress in most LICs is too slow to achieve this.

An effective solution

PLA-MNH involves forming mother and child groups. These are guided by trained local female facilitators through structured meetings in a four-phase action cycle where they:

Identify the most important health challenges

Design local solutions

Lead their communities to implement these solutions

Evaluate their results.

There is extensive evidence supporting their potential:

Effective: Seven cluster randomised controlled trials and a meta-analysis have shown that PLA-MNH can reduce maternal mortality by 49% and neonatal mortality by 33% when at least a third of pregnant women attend a group.

Cost-effective: By WHO standards, with a cost of between $1,457 to $8,670 per neonatal death averted.

Equitable: It is pro-poor and can contribute to an equitable reduction in neonatal mortality across socio-economic strata.

Sustainable: Up to 80% of groups remain active beyond the end of project funding.

Scalable: There is evidence PLA-MNH can be scaled through community health worker structures. In India, delivered through frontline health workers supported by the Ministry of Health, PLA-MNH reduced neonatal mortality by 24% (26% in the poorest quintiles) at a cost of $385 per death averted.

What we are doing now

Our history brings clarity to our role in relation to PLA-MNH in the future. We are uniquely placed to support scale-up globally, to ensure PLA-MNH reaches the communities where it can have the greatest impact.

We recognise our role as an ‘intermediator’ – uniquely positioned between the PLA-MNH approach and governments and stakeholders, with the capacity to deliver it at scale. Essentially the small cog that helps drive the big wheels!

To best leverage this role, we are working to position PLA-MNH ready for scale-up in countries where it can save thousands of lives every year.

We are advocating and working closely with national governments and their partners, supporting them in confirming its potential at national level. We are providing a comprehensive package of technical assistance to transfer knowledge and institutionalise PLA-MNH.

We have started in Ethiopia, Malawi and Tanzania, where we are already well placed to deliver this strategy. We remain open to working in other countries, if the potential to institutionalise PLA-MNH opens up.

Alongside scale-up, working on PLA-MNH for over 20 years has raised three key questions:

PLA works for maternal and newborn health. Are there other health issues PLA can help communities organise around and address?

PLA can be delivered by community health workers. Are there other ways to get PLA to the people who need it most?

PLA works in rural settings. Are there other settings where it could work?

Women and Children First is currently incubating a number of innovations to help answer these questions.

Community Health Groups for Maternal and Newborn Health

Communities have the answers to their most pressing health problems. Through the creation of health groups, they can come together to find successful solutions.

Participatory Learning and Action for Maternal and Newborn Health (PLA-MNH) is for the 300,000 women and 3,200,000 babies that die during pregnancy, delivery and up to one month after birth.

PLA-MNH is an effective, cost-effective, equitable, sustainable and scalable approach to improve maternal and newborn health and reduce mortality. It is the world leading community mobilisation approach, is recommended by the World Health Organization and enshrined in the Every Newborn Action Plan.

See the groups in action

Adesi and Feston’s story

Adesi lives in rural Malawi and recently gave birth safely to a beautiful boy, Feston.

But she wasn’t always certain things would turn out this way. She felt overwhelmed by how many barriers stood in the way: How can I get to the health facility when the time comes, it’s so far? How can I feed myself and my baby, I don’t have enough money?

Adesi’s friends encouraged her to join the PLA-MNH group in her village where she met other women just like her.

Collaborating with other community members they addressed each and every barrier so when the time came, Adesi could use the group bicycle ambulance to get to a health facility and was able to harvest nutritious vegetables from the group garden.

The problem

Women, children and young people, particularly those living in Lower Income Countries (LICs), face a daily struggle to achieve their potential.

Sadly, for many, the struggle is simply to survive.

While maternal deaths have fallen by around 45 per cent over the past two decades, 800 women still die every day - including 190 adolescents - from preventable causes linked to pregnancy and child birth.

Over half of these deaths are due to preventable or treatable conditions such as haemorrhage, hypertensive disorders, sepsis and obstructed labour.

Newborn deaths – children under one month of age – have also reduced, but 2.6 million still occur every year. That's over 7,000 per day. Additionally, estimates show a further 2.6 million stillbirths per year.

Most of these deaths are due to premature birth, infections and complications of asphyxia, again all preventable or treatable conditions.

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 sets a target of reducing the global maternal deaths to less than 70 per 100,000 and newborn deaths to less than 12 per 1000 live births by 2030. So far, progress in most LICs is too slow to achieve this.

An effective solution

PLA-MNH involves forming mother and child groups. These are guided by trained local female facilitators through structured meetings in a four-phase action cycle where they:

Identify the most important health challenges

Design local solutions

Lead their communities to implement these solutions

Evaluate their results.

There is extensive evidence supporting their potential:Effective: Seven cluster randomised controlled trials and a meta-analysis have shown that PLA-MNH can reduce maternal mortality by 49% and neonatal mortality by 33% when at least a third of pregnant women attend a group.

Cost-effective: By WHO standards, with a cost of between $1,457 to $8,670 per neonatal death averted.

Equitable: It is pro-poor and can contribute to an equitable reduction in neonatal mortality across socio-economic strata.

Sustainable: Up to 80% of groups remain active beyond the end of project funding.

Scalable: There is evidence PLA-MNH can be scaled through community health worker structures. In India, delivered through frontline health workers supported by the Ministry of Health, PLA-MNH reduced neonatal mortality by 24% (26% in the poorest quintiles) at a cost of $385 per death averted.

What we are doing now

Our history brings clarity to our role in relation to PLA-MNH in the future. We are uniquely placed to support scale-up globally, to ensure PLA-MNH reaches the communities where it can have the greatest impact.

We recognise our role as an ‘intermediator’ – uniquely positioned between the PLA-MNH approach and governments and stakeholders, with the capacity to deliver it at scale. Essentially the small cog that helps drive the big wheels!

To best leverage this role, we are working to position PLA-MNH ready for scale-up in countries where it can save thousands of lives every year.

We are advocating and working closely with national governments and their partners, supporting them in confirming its potential at national level. We are providing a comprehensive package of technical assistance to transfer knowledge and institutionalise PLA-MNH.

We have started in Ethiopia, Malawi and Tanzania, where we are already well placed to deliver this strategy. We remain open to working in other countries, if the potential to institutionalise PLA-MNH opens up.

Alongside scale-up, working on PLA-MNH for over 20 years has raised three key questions:

PLA works for maternal and newborn health. Are there other health issues PLA can help communities organise around and address?

PLA can be delivered by community health workers. Are there other ways to get PLA to the people who need it most?

PLA works in rural settings. Are there other settings where it could work?

Women and Children First is currently incubating a number of innovations to help answer these questions.

There is extensive evidence supporting their potential:

Effective: Seven cluster randomised controlled trials and a meta-analysis have shown that PLA-MNH can reduce maternal mortality by 49% and neonatal mortality by 33% when at least a third of pregnant women attend a group.