Report on the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health

On May 19, the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health met at the World Health Assembly to introduce their final report “Keeping Promises, Measuring Results.”

Due to the slow progress of both MDG 4 “Child Health” and MDG 5 “Maternal Health” the UN Secretary General developed the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health with the mission to spare 16 million lives by 2015 in the world’s 49 poorest countries. This initiative has already mobilized US $40 billion dollars and with it intends to accelerate progress towards the MDGs related to women’s and children’s health. The Secretary-General has thereby established this Commission to ensure that participating actors honor their commitments. Therefore, the Commission is responsible for determining “the most effective international institutional arrangements for global reporting, oversight, and accountability on women’s and children’s health.”

The Commission is being led by Dr. Margaret Chan, the Director of the World Health Organization.

The Commission is intrinsically rooted in the fundamental human right of every woman and child to live the healthiest lives possible with the particular priority of achieving health equity in relation to gender. In addition, it places major accountability at the national level with the supplementary involvement and necessary accountability of committed global actors.

Thus, the Commission has agreed upon 10 recommendations to achieve their goal of improved reporting, oversight, and accountability in the realm of women’s and children’s health.

With the goal of retrieving “better information for better results”, the commission has prioritized the national monitoring of:

1. Vital events: The goal being that by 2015, all countries will have taken significant steps to establish a system for the registration of births, deaths and causes of death, and also have well-functioning health information systems that combine data from facilities, administrative sources and surveys (Keeping Promises, Measuring Results, 2).

2. Health indicators: The goal being that by 2012, the same 11 indicators on reproductive, maternal and child health, disaggregated for gender and other equity considerations, are being used for the purpose of monitoring progress towards the goals of the Global Strategy (Keeping Promises, Measuring Results, 2).

3. Monitor Innovation: The goal being that by 2015, all countries have integrated the use of Information and Communication Technologies in their national health information systems and health infrastructure (Keeping Promises, Measuring Results, 2).

In order to “better track resources for women’s and children’s health” the commission has prioritized the national monitoring of:

4. Resource tracking: The goal being that by 2015, all 74 countries where 98% of maternal and child deaths take place are tracking and reporting, at a minimum, two aggregate resource indicators: First: total health expenditure by financing source, per capita; and second: total reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health expenditure by financing source, per capita (Keeping Promises, Measuring Results, 2).

5. Country compacts: The goal being that by 2012, in order to facilitate resource tracking, “compacts” between country governments and all major development partners are in place that require reporting, based on a format to be agreed in each country, on externally funded expenditures and predictable commitments (Keeping Promises, Measuring Results, 2).

By monitoring these components, national governments should be able to review their practices to discern whether or not they are:

6. Reaching women and children: The goal being that by 2015, all governments have the
capacity to regularly review health spending (including spending on reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health) and to relate spending to commitments, human rights, gender and other equity goals and results (Keeping Promises, Measuring Results, 2).

In order to achieve “better oversight of results and resources on the national and global level, the Commission has prioritized:

7. National oversight: The goal being that by 2012, all countries have established national
accountability mechanisms that are transparent, that are inclusive of all stakeholders, and that recommend remedial action, as required (Keeping Promises, Measuring Results, 3).

8. Transparency: The goal being that by 2013, all stakeholders are publicly sharing information on commitments, resources provided and results achieved annually, at both national and international levels (Keeping Promises, Measuring Results, 3).

In order to ensure Global Accountability, the Commission has prioritized:

9. Reporting aid for women’s and children’s health: The goal being that by 2012, development partners will request the OECD-DAC to agree on how to improve the Creditor Reporting System so that it can capture, in a timely manner, monitor and evaluate the efficiency of all reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health spending by development partners. In the interim, development partners and the OECD should implement a simple method for reporting such expenditure (Keeping Promises, Measuring Results, 3).

10. Global oversight: entails an independent ‘‘Expert Review Group’’ reporting regularly to the United Nations Secretary-General on the results and resources related to the Global Strategy and on progress in implementing this Commission’s recommendations. This will take place between 2012 and 2015 (Keeping Promises, Measuring Results, 3).

For the full report visit the World Health Organization website.

Works Cited

Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health. (2011). Keeping Promises, Measuring Results. Every Woman, Every Child, 2-3.