Sinergias ONG participated in the First Global Maternal and Child Health Conference

• The call that gathered more than 3,000 applications chose Sinergias to present the results of the Evaluation of the quality of prenatal care in Colombia. A report that collects the monitoring made by the organization during the period 2009-2011 to 20 departments of the country.

  
  

• Representatives of foundations and organizations committed to the development of women and children met from October 18 to 21 in Mexico to reflect on the importance of committing to the development and empowerment of women and children and to the Sustainable Development Goals, goals established by the UN Secretary General this year, with a deadline of 2030.

Organizations committed to maternal and child development such as USAID, Save the Children (Mexico), UNICEF and UNFPA, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Carlos Slim Foundation and Harvard University provided a space for dialogue between representatives from 75 countries to continue joining efforts and knowledge in order to overcome the problems of maternal and child mortality, poverty and poor health quality that some countries continue to present after the Millennium Development Goals (whose deadline expired this year). The event was an opportunity to draw attention to the need to improve the coverage and quality of health services worldwide, as this is the only way to meet the goals of reducing neonatal mortality to 12 per 1000 live births, and under-five mortality to 25 per 1000 live births, components of goal number 3 (Good Health) of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The research presented by Pablo Montoya, General Director of the NGO Sinergias, recorded the effective activities carried out in more than 140 municipalities in the country to reduce maternal and perinatal morbimortality. Together with the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), they were able to determine that the quality of prenatal care in Colombia is deficient due to inequities in the different regions. For example, only 1.1% of the 2,651 medical records reviewed had interventions to reduce maternal and infant mortality, and only 20% complied with basic care.

It was also found that in the country, the relationship between education and purchasing power determines women's access to quality health services. This study also revealed that the reduction of inequities in health and education is the key to the sustainable development of the country, and that progress must be made in real terms because the existing laws meet the requirements.

In this regard, Sinergias raised in the Panel a series of recommendations to be able to correct the structural conditions that do not allow for uniform progress in terms of maternal and child health,

"There are inequities that have been identified and that we must correct. The important thing about having the evidence is to be able to use it to correct the problems that exist, find solutions and apply them," said Montoya.

Recommendations made by Sinergias at the First Global Conference on Maternal and Child Health

These were some of the recommendations presented by Sinergias at the conference:

• Collaboration among the actors of the Health System: articulating actions to improve the quality of care at the territorial level and avoiding the division or fragmentation of services.

  
  

• Involving communities: making them supervisors of the quality of services, participants in the demand for health rights and having a differential approach.

  
  

• Improve evaluation and follow-up for decision making.

  
  

• Provide continuous technical accompaniment to solve identified local problems: integrate, motivate and humanize the service.

  
  

• Work hand in hand with different sectors to address social determinants.