“In the Democratic Republic of Congo, far too many mothers die of maternity-related causes even though they are able to access healthcare relatively easily,” said Eustache Ouayoro, World Bank Country Director for the Democratic Republic of Congo. “The main problem is the quality of primary healthcare that women get at clinics, and this new World Bank grant will directly help improve services for them.”

The grant will be used to reduce untimely deaths among women and promote safer childbirth by boosting capacity to deliver good obstetric care at health facilities. It will also help train staff to serve women who have suffered gender-based violence, and will make modern contraceptives more easily available.

The health status of women in the DRC reflects stark gender inequalities, with nearly one in five women being underweight, and women in cities being at considerably higher risk of getting HIV. To try to close this gender gap in health, the grant will help expand nutrition activities at clinics for both women and children, and help continue the supply of anti-retroviral treatment to those living with HIV/AIDS.

Finally, the grant will support a pilot project in Katanga that uses performance-based financing to improve services at health facilities, expanding it by more than 1 million beneficiaries. Although preliminary results are encouraging, it is important to complete the ongoing evaluation of this approach so that the DRC can take an informed decision on whether to adopt it more widely.

The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, helps the world’s poorest countries by providing loans (called “credits”) and grants for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives. IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 81 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa. Resources from IDA bring positive change for 2.5 billion people living on less than $2 a day. Since 1960, IDA has supported development work in 108 countries. Annual commitments have increased steadily and averaged about $15 billion over the last three years, with about 50 percent of commitments going to Africa.

Millions of children – most of them in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia – die every year from largely preventable causes before reaching their fifth birthdays, UNICEF noted in a news release. In 2010, this translated to 57 children dying for every 1,000 live births.

The Child Survival Call to Action – a high-level forum convened in Washington, D.C., by the Governments of Ethiopia, India and the United States, in collaboration with UNICEF – challenges the world to reduce child mortality to 20 or fewer child deaths per 1,000 live births in every country by 2035.

“Reaching this historic target will save an additional 45 million children’s lives by 2035, bringing the world closer to the ultimate goal of ending preventable child deaths,” the agency stated.

It added that the goal can be reached by focusing on five key areas, including boosting efforts in the 24 countries that account for 80 per cent of under-five deaths, scaling-up access for underserved populations, and addressing the five causes that account for nearly 60 per cent of child deaths – pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria, pre-term births and intrapartum (around the time of childbirth).

Increased focus is also needed on investing beyond health programmes to include educating girls, empowering women, and promoting inclusive economic growth, and unifying around a shared goal and using common metrics to track progress.

At the Call to Action, governments and partners are being asked to pledge their support for A Promise Renewed, a commitment to work together on sharpening national plans for child survival, monitoring results, and focusing greater attention on the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children.

“We have the tools, the treatments, and the technology to save millions of lives every year, and there is no excuse not to use them,” said UNICEF’s Executive Director, Anthony Lake.

“To renew our promise to the world’s children, we have to focus on the leading causes of child mortality like diarrhoea, pneumonia and malaria, scaling up coverage of high-impact, low-cost treatments, sparking greater innovation, and spurring greater political will to reach the hardest to reach children,” he said. “The grand goal of preventing child deaths must be our common cause.”