The FIGO Saving Mothers and Newborns Initiative (2006 – 2011) comprised ten country projects led by professional associations of obstetricians and gynecologists. The Initiative was funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and FIGO and managed by Dr André Lalonde, Chair of the FIGO Committee for Safe Motherhood and Newborn Health and former Executive Vice President of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC). The Ukraine project was funded in part by USAID, SOGC and FIGO.
The main goal of the Initiative – that of contributing to the reduction of maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality to help achieve Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 – was complemented by critically important secondary objectives: to strengthen the capacity of national professional associations to engage in maternal and newborn health through the design and implementation of projects, and to strengthen co-operation between FIGO and national societies, and between societies in regions of differing economic levels.
Further secondary aims were to strengthen the co-operation between national societies and the national stakeholders involved in safe motherhood and newborn health, and to increase the credibility of national societies locally to provide technical support to Ministries of Health and national professional councils. The participating professional associations were:
Haiti – Association des Infirmieres et Sage Femmes d’Haiti (AISFH), Société Haïtienne d’Obstétrique et de Gynécologie (SHOG)
Individual country associations designed, managed and implemented a range of projects focused on identified needs within each country. Depending on the perceived needs, projects were implemented covering a wide number of activities including clinical training, development and introduction of standards, protocols and clinical audit, refurbishment of health facilities, and advocacy for policy and legislative change around abortion.
A key feature of the Initiative was North-South mentoring by obstetricians and midwives. This resulted in shared learning, additional resources being leveraged and strengthening of project activities and reports.
The majority of projects achieved remarkable results, particularly considering their size and funding, and the voluntary nature of the undertaking. In fact, country teams were largely voluntary and undertook project work alongside existing clinical and professional commitments.
In many cases the scale of achievements (sometimes resulting in national-level uptake of training, audit and, in one case, national change to legislation) were beyond initial expectations. Here follow some examples:
To date, the majority of projects are continuing beyond the period of funding. In many cases dissemination of project achievements and their integration into wider clinical practice has come about through individual project team members taking on significant positions within national associations, or incorporating lessons learnt during the project into new clinical positions and departments.