Winter 2018 Newsletter

Welcome to the inaugural issue of the child health task force newsletter!

Our quarterly publication intends to keep our network of global members informed by featuring country work, highlighting subgroup progress, and sharing curated news and resources. We look forward to sending helpful information and updates that are relevant to you, so if there are topics or features that you would like to see in future newsletters, we welcome your input! Please be sure to also visit our recently launched website for more Task Force news.

Sincerely,
Dyness Kasungami on behalf of The Child Health Task Force Secretariat

Child Health Task Force Expanded Steering Committee Meeting

From December 4-6, 2018 in Washington, D.C. the Child Health Task Force Steering Committee held an expanded meeting with the co-chairs from each subgroup. The Steering Committee also welcomed two new members: Charles Mwansambo, Chief of Health Services at the Malawi Ministry of Health, and Shabina Ariff, Associate Professor and Neonatologist Consultant at the Aga Khan University in Pakistan.

Photo of a group of people: Steering Committee Members, Subgroup Chairs, and Secretariat. Photo credit: Ashley Schmidt/MCSP
Steering Committee Members, Subgroup Chairs, and Secretariat. Photo credit: Ashley Schmidt/MCSP

Participants engaged in three full days of discussion and planning. Highlights included:

  • Refining and clarifying the value add statement: Participants agreed that the Task Force uniquely brings together a diverse group of stakeholders to focus on child health in an open and accessible manner; shares knowledge, evidence, and implementation approaches; and importantly, strives to engage and support countries with strategic technical support. Participants recognized that the Task Force has the potential to be a voice to bring more focus to child health. Moreover, its broad mandate can be translated into an integrated approach of looking at the needs of the whole child while strengthening health systems.
  • Improving coordination and communication: Participants identified ways for the Task Force to operate more effectively, including setting up quarterly calls, rotating subgroup leadership, creating tailored listservs, and synthesizing and sharing activities of members.
  • Setting priority activities for 2019:
    • Map iCCM implementation in target countries
    • Raise focus on child health by leveraging funds
    • Increase knowledge sharing across network
    • Synthesize Global Fund evaluations of iCCM implementation
Photo of a group of people posing: Steering Committee Members, Subgroup Chairs, and Secretariat. Photo credit: Ashley Schmidt/MCSP
Steering Committee Members, Subgroup Chairs, and Secretariat. Photo credit: Ashley Schmidt/MCSP

Improving Technical Assistance Models in the DRC & Nigeria

From April 2018 - September 2019, the Task Force will collaborate with a variety of partners to redesign technical assistance approaches in the DRC and Nigeria, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Stakeholders of the project include governments of DRC and Nigeria; country-level child health experts; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and Sonder Collective, a human-centered design firm. A Task Force-wide call was held in July 2018 to introduce the funding and form a Project Advisory Committee that includes Child Health Task Force member organizations currently implementing child health programs in DRC and/or Nigeria.

Using human-centered design, the project will create a new model for technical assistance. It  seeks to strengthen local capabilities to implement evidence-based, integrated child health interventions toward achievement of the 2030 Survive, Thrive, and Transform vision. The first in-country design workshops with stakeholders are scheduled for early 2019 (Nigeria: January 29-30 and the DRC: February 5-6).

Subgroup Spotlight

Future newsletters will feature work or news from a subgroup. If you are interested in joining a subgroup, you can sign up here on the Child Health Task Force website. The subgroups are:

  • Child Health in Emergencies and Humanitarian Settings
  • Digital Health and Innovations
  • Expansion of the Child Health Package
  • Financing and Resource Planning
  • Implementation Science
  • Institutionalizing iCCM
  • Monitoring & Evaluation
  • Nutrition and Child Health
  • Private Sector Engagement

News from the Network

If you have announcements, resources, or other information to share, please email: Elizabeth.Hourani@mcsprogram.org to be included in the next newsletter.