UN H6 Partnership Kicks off Mission to Liberia

The UN H6 Partnership, comprised of UNICEF World Health Organization (WHO) UNFPA UN Women UNAIDS and the World Bank supports countries in achieving health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), targeting sexual, reproductive, maternal, child, and adolescent health (SRMNCAH). This partnership supported a project on strengthening #SRMNCAH services in selected health facilities and communities in six counties in Liberia between 2013 - 2018.

From the lessons learnt in Liberia’s journey to building a resilience health system post-Ebola, including the initial H6 project implementation, there is a need to assess and further support the country's SRMNCAH program to build on past achievements, address the unfinished agenda, and integrate new strategies for improving health outcomes for missed populations among women and girls. An H6 scoping mission is currently happening in the country (April 22 to May 3, 2024) to develop a micro plan for SRMNCAH services.

Kicking off the mission yesterday, experts from H6 Partnership Regional and Headquarters offices had inception meetings with the Ministry of Health, Republic of Liberia Honorable Minister of Health, Dr. Louise Kpoto - and the heads of UN agencies to brief them on the mission objectives and expected outcomes. Speaking during the inception meeting with the Minister of Health, the Team Lead for the Mission, Dr. Anshu Banerjee, WHO Director for Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health and Ageing in Geneva, expressed gratitude for the government's acceptance to host the mission, highlighting the timeliness of the mission to inform the priorities on the national agenda (ARREST) of the new government in Liberia. Dr. Anshu emphasized that the mission will help identify key issues that can be supported through the partnership, using a whole-of-government and whole-of-society buy-in approach. Honorable Minister of Health, Dr. Louise Kpoto, welcomed the team to Liberia and expressed her anticipation to receive the findings from the scoping mission in the next couple of weeks. She committed the government's support to the mission and highlighted the importance of the communities and strengthening the referral systems, to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes.

This week, the mission will focus on implementing a microplanning tool in two counties Montserrado and Grand Cape Mount to identify bottlenecks in SRMNCAH services from both supply and demand angles, especially the missed populations, with focus on primary healthcare. The second week will build on the findings from the microplanning to develop an investment case for advocacy with key stakeholders in line with national policies and plans. The mission is timely, as the First Lady was recently appointed as the maternal and newborn health champion for Liberia during the last World Health Day. Concurrently during the inception meetings, other team members of the mission were engaging local stakeholders in a training of the microplanning tool, which will run for the next two days before the field visits.