Georgia Has Its First National Maternal and Newborn Health Strategy

TBILISI –The Ministry of Labor, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia (MoLHSA) with support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) released the National Maternal and Newborn Health Strategy (2017-2030) and a 3-year Action Plan (2017-2019) on April 7 in Tbilisi.

The strategy is aimed at giving direction and providing guidance for the improvement of maternal and newborn health (MNH) and the related reproductive health (RH) fields in Georgia. The main goal is to ensure that by 2030, there will be no preventable deaths of mothers or newborns, or stillbirths and that every child is wanted and every unwanted pregnancy is prevented through appropriate education and full access to all high quality integrated services.

The 3-year Action Plan (2017-2019) will serve as a general framework for MNH, RH, and Family Planning areas and as a guide for interventions for the next three years.

The document also provides strategic inputs that will support the development and execution of operating plans at the country level to eliminate maternal and neonatal mortality in Georgia by strengthening and expanding policies and programs for the improvement of Maternal and Newborn Health (MNH) within the continuum of care; and gives direction and provides guidance for the fields of Family Planning and Adolescent SRH, as very important determinants of MNH.

The presentation of the strategy brought together the representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs, Alanna Armitage, Regional Director, UNFPA Eastern Europe and Central Asia Regional Office, UN Agencies, Donors, SRH professionals and representatives of foreign embassies and the professional associations, academia, civil society organizations.

“Georgia can continue to accelerate progress in the direction of maternal and newborn health and the national strategy is an excellent way to achieve this goal. Georgian men, women and youth deserve to have the best health standards,” Alanna Armitage said.

Deputy Minister of Health, Nino Berdzuli noted that the National Maternal and Newborn Health Strategy and an Action Plan are being  implemented for the first time in Georgia.

“The strategy consists of three main components: maternal and newborn health, family planning and sexual and reproductive health of young people,” Deputy Health Minister noted.

The National Maternal and Newborn Health Strategy (2017-2030) is closely linked to the recent international strategic documents, including the Sustainable Development Goals (2015), the new WHO European Action Plan for Sexual and Reproductive Health (2017-2021), Every Newborn Action Plan (WHO/UNICEF) and WHO/Europe “Health 2020: the European policy for health and well-being.”

Thea Morrison