In Nairobi, countries showed gains in maternal and newborn health but sounded the alarm that change is not happening fast or fairly enough.
By Shanon McNab
Regional Advisor on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Asia and the Pacific
At the International Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Conference (IMNHC) in Nairobi, there was broad agreement on one point: we know how to prevent most maternal and newborn deaths.
What remains unresolved is how quickly, and how fairly, we deliver those solutions.
Three years on from Cape Town, the IMNCH conference felt less like a milestone and more like a moment to take stock. It remains one of the few spaces where the global community steps back, compares notes, and tries to agree on what matters most next. This year, the picture was mixed — real progress, but also a clear sense that we are not moving fast enough.
Countries came with concrete examples, particularly from Asia and the Pacific, where efforts are underway to strengthen health systems, expand access and improve the quality of care. There is no shortage of activity, or even evidence of what works.
But some realities remain stubborn. Postpartum haemorrhage is still the leading cause of maternal deaths globally. The need to scale up emergency obstetric and newborn care, strengthen death surveillance and response, and ensure services continue in humanitarian settings came up again and again. Across these discussions, the message was consistent. Progress is real, but it is not happening fast enough, and it is not reaching everyone equally.
At the centre of this gap is the quality of care. Too many women and babies still die from preventable causes, and too many families experience the devastating loss of a mother, stillborn child or a newborn who could have survived with high quality, timely and appropriate care. Scaling up proven interventions, such as strong midwifery models of care, lifesaving maternal health commodities, and functioning referral systems, must happen faster and more equitably.
For UNFPA, the conference also served as a platform to advance practical tools to address these challenges. Important resources were launched on midwifery models of care, midwives as leaders, postpartum haemorrhage prevention and management, and the Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) for sexual and reproductive health in humanitarian settings. Taken together, they reinforce a consistent message: resilient health systems depend on skilled and supported health workers, reliable supplies, integrated services, and care that centres women, newborns and families.
In the closing plenary, Lilani Brinkman, a Namibian Member of Parliament, underscored what was at stake, describing preventable maternal and newborn deaths as a failure of leadership as much as of health systems. Her remarks echoed a broader sentiment across the conference — that the gap between what is known and what is implemented is ultimately a question of political commitment.
For Asia and the Pacific, that challenge resonates deeply. The region faces rapid demographic shifts, deepening inequalities, and increasing pressures from climate change. These realities demand that we move beyond business as usual. Partnerships must deepen and diversify, communities and parents must be engaged as advocates for quality care, and investments must focus on scaling the interventions that save the most lives. And, that there is a real distinction between political will and political commitment.
The energy at IMNHC was clear. The challenge now is to translate that energy into measurable progress. For Asia and the Pacific, this is a moment to move with urgency and focus — working faster, working more effectively, and working together to ensure that every pregnancy is safe, every newborn has a chance to survive and thrive, and no family experiences a preventable loss.
