Project profile — Born On Time: A Public-Private Partnership for the Prevention of Preterm Birth

• Bangladesh (33.34%)
• Mali (33.33%)
• Ethiopia (33.33%)

• Basic Health: Basic health care (12220) (50.00%)
• Population Policies/Programmes And Reproductive Health: Reproductive health care (13020) (50.00%)

• Gender equality (significant objective)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (significant objective)
• Participatory development and good governance (not targeted)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (significant objective)
• Youth Issues (significant objective)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)

Despite progress on reducing child mortality, newborn mortality is declining at a slower pace and preterm birth complications is the single most significant cause of newborn mortality. This project aims to contribute to the reduction of preterm birth rates through an integrated approach addressing lifestyle, infection, nutrition and contraception (LINC) factors. Through a health consortium - led by World Vision Canada, and including Plan Canada and Save the Children Canada - this project is addressing the LINC factors in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Mali to reduce the incidence of preterm birth and its related complications. Project activities include: (1) training of facility healthcare workers and community health workers on high quality care for pregnant women and newborns; (2) upgrading of health facilities and provision of essential supplies; (3) strengthening of referral systems by providing training to front line service providers; (4) conducting outreach activities to address knowledge gaps related to healthy pregnancies and prevention of preterm birth; (5) empowering women’s self-confidence, negotiation and leadership skills by conducting awareness raising at the community level (6) improving data collection and registration on birth, death and still birth by providing training to health care providers and updating reporting tools; (7) documenting and sharing of evidence-based best practices with regional and national policy and decision makers.

The expected intermediate outcomes for this project include: (1) Improved availability of maternal, newborn and reproductive health services to prevent and care for preterm births; (2) Increased utilization of maternal, newborn and reproductive health services to prevent and care for preterm births; and (3) Enhanced utilization of evidence-based, gender-specific information on preterm birth data for decision making at various levels of the health system.

Results achieved as of the end of the project (December 2020) include: (1) supported the prevention of preterm birth in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Mali. Prevention is a critical piece of the puzzle to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3.2, to end preventable deaths of newborns and children under the age of five by 2030; (2) reached an estimated 2,269,099 unique people (of whom 1,481,240 are women and girls and 787,859 are men and boys) through program activities; (3) trained 22,658 healthcare providers and community healthcare providers; (4) supported the provision of family planning to 2,165,909 adolescents and adults; and (5) supported the provision of prenatal services to 465,420 pregnant women and adolescent girls, skilled delivery to 382,171 pregnant women and adolescent girls, and newborn care to 343,474 neonates. Throughout the project, the percentage of live births attended by skilled birth attendants increased from 69.4% to 75.9% in Bangladesh, from 56% to 69.2% in Ethiopia and from 12.4% to 69.0% in Mali. This increased the number of live births attended by skilled birth attendants by 60% on average across the three countries.

• Proactive disclosure