Childbirth Survival International Program Areas

CSI efforts to reach the unreached contribute to community, national, and global health agendas, policies, and strategies to improve Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent, and Community Health (RMNCACH) in low-resource settings.

Illustration above displays CSI's interconnected top five priorities with the goal to improve reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and youth health in underserved communities.
CSI is intentionally reaching the unreached with health services, resources, and information.

* Make pregnancy, labor & delivery, and postpartum period safer for the mother and newborn, and optimize child survival for the first five years.

* Increase demand, understanding, access, and use of reproductive health services and adherence to contraception use among men and women of child-bearing age (15–49 years).

* Strengthen frontline healthcare provider skills especially nurses and midwives focusing on quality, equity, and dignity.

* Through youth education and empowerment, improve access to quality youth friendly reproductive health care services focusing on STIs, HIV/AIDS, menstruation, menstrual hygiene, and prevention of unintended pregnancies.

* Educate, inform, empower, and rally communities to foster project ownership and sustainability.

Maternal Health in developing countries is poorly addressed resulting in 99% of preventable deaths and disabilities. According to WHO reports (November 2015), an estimated 830 women die every day due to pregnancy and childbirth related preventable and treatable causes. With appropriate skills through training and retraining, strengthening of existing health service delivery, increasing political and non-political will, and use of available technology and resources, mothers can be saved. CSI's umbrella program #SaveMothersofAfrica works with health facilities, midwives, and community leaders to address the three delays, improve quality of maternal health services, economically empower women, and increase access to reproductive health services.

Newborns and Children including preterm babies and stillbirths are dying in numbers, three quarters of all newborn deaths occur in the first week of life. Many of these deaths are happening in low- and middle-income countries, where there's an acute and persistent deficit in quality health services, accessibility barriers, and poor delivery of health services and information especially in rural areas. Low-cost low-tech interventions can optimize child survival and thrival by reducing loss of life due to preventable vaccine diseases, newborn complications and diseases such as diarrhea, pneumonia, and malaria. CSI's basic interventions to save lives of newborns and children 0-12 months contribute to improved first 1,000 days of life.

Adolescents and Youth the world's largest untapped potential across sub-Saharan Africa and efforts to meet and address their needs, especially for the girl child, is critical to achieve global prosperity. CSI programs such as Safina for orphans and vulnerable children, Keeping Youth Healthy, Alive, Informed (HAI), YES, and Girl Talk, Girl Power work with schools, communities, businesses, and local leaders, and organizations to educate, empower, and inform adolescents and youth. CSI is a key partner in outreach and mass sensitization to steadily increase community awareness, drive demand and political will to invest in adolescents and youth in underserved communities, leaving no child behind.

Reproductive Health and Family Planning services and information remain inadequately used due to access, affordability, convenience, and cultural attitudes and misconceptions. The demand may not be visible or loud; however, in many community-based activities where CSI offers various health services and information, need for reproductive health and family services is always shared by community members. Young people face greater challenges in accessing family planning/reproductive health services and information mainly due to societal and cultural attitudes. CSI's reproductive health and family planning program includes increasing access to modern family planning and reproductive health services such cervical cancer screening.

Frontline Health Workers especially midwives and nurses who are the first point of contact in many developing countries are the heroes in saving lives at birth, ensuring a mother has a safe delivery, and returns home to her family. CSI enhances midwifery skills through professional development short courses and educates communities on importance of having a skilled birth attendant during childbirth and immediately after birth. CSI's Midwifery Professional Development program in Tanzania retrains licensed midwives in health facilities across the country to strengthen quality and respectful maternity care.

Community Education and Awareness is important for change to happen to support girls' education and economically empower women. Change gradually happens when people embrace a perspective, practice, and behavior that they believe is beneficial for them and their families. For change to happen, people need to feel invested in and part of the change process. Collective voices and thoughts in turn influence and shape necessary changes such as health policies. CSI interventions always begin with community first, especially men, Men for Women and Girls - fathers, spouses, relatives, and respectable community leaders, because without the support of men and community, interventions especially for women and girls cannot be sustained long-term.