The Action Plan for Healthy Newborn Infants in the Western Pacific Region (2014−2020) (with set targets extended up to 2030) − jointly endorsed by the World Health Organization WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)− aims to reach unreached mothers and babies using health systems approaches to improve their quality of care. Since 2013, nine priority countries in the Western Pacific Region with the highest burden of neonatal mortality have received intensive support from WHO to implement the Action Plan. In the past, the priority countries reported data on progress every two years, which were validated and then used at the first (2015), second (2017) and third (2020) biennial meetings on accelerating progress in Early Essential Newborn Care (EENC). After a four-year hiatus due to the pandemic, seven countries reported data on the progress of the EENC implementation in 2023, and the reported data were validated by the Independent Review Group to be presented at the proposed fourth biennial meeting on both country and regional progress of EENC implementation.
It is crucial to review the progress achieved, the challenges faced and the lessons learnt in implementing EENC after the pandemic. The WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific has been supporting countries in strengthening health facility quality and routine monitoring of the quality of maternal and newborn care.
Therefore, the proposed focus of this biennial meeting will be on the institutionalization and sustainability of EENC through pre-service education and strengthening the country-driven EENC Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Framework. Representatives from ministries responsible for maternal and child health, health facility quality and M&E will be brought together to discuss optimal, country-driven strategies for ensuring the institutionalisation and sustainability of EENC through pre-service education, and routine monitoring of quality of care, improvement measures and innovative partnerships.
The objectives of the meeting are:
(1) to share results, analyse data, discuss progress and identify challenges in implementing EENC in nine priority countries and in the Western Pacific Region;
(2) to draft country road maps for institutionalizing and sustaining EENC scale-up with an emphasis on strengthening pre-service education and country-driven routine monitoring of quality of care; and
(3) to deliberate on the draft Fourth Biennial Progress Report (2022–2023) on the Action Plan for Healthy Newborn Infants in the Western Pacific Region.
