IAWG Newborn Initiative: Evaluation Findings

The Inter-Agency Working Group on Reproductive Health in Crises (IAWG) Newborn Initiative (INI) was formed in October 2020 to accelerate global preparedness and response to deliver high quality maternal and newborn health (MNH) care, and to improve newborn health and well-being in humanitarian and fragile settings. The INI has a dual mandate: 1) to provide sustained and directed support to the global agenda for newborn health in humanitarian settings, as delineated in the Newborn Roadmap; and 2) to ensure global progress that reflects the intentional efforts to integrate MNH programming across the development and humanitarian sectors. While the primary focus of the INI was to uphold the objectives for newborn health outlined in the Newborn Roadmap, it was paramount to integrate these efforts within ongoing maternal and newborn health initiatives, and thus the mandate expanded to consider the dyad in all efforts.

This evaluation examines the progress made by the global community to advance the objectives and commitments made in the Newborn Roadmap from 2020 – 2024 and seeks to identify future MNH priorities within the unfinished agendas.