Resource Type: Brief
Authors: Heather Cogswell, Tesfaye Dereje, Laurel Hatt
Published: 6/30/2015

Resource Description: 

Ending preventable child and maternal deaths is at the forefront of country and development partner health agendas. While progress has been made over the last few decades, significant challenges remain. Of all of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the least progress has been made toward Goal 5 – Improving maternal health.

Improving health outcomes for mothers and children requires sufficient funding for efficient and high-impact interventions. Policymakers need current and detailed information on the gap between resources currently available for maternal and child health (MCH) and the investments required to achieve national targets. Health Accounts is a key tool to generate the evidence to assess whether existing resources are sufficient and whether they are being spent on the most effective interventions. This evidence is critical for informing MCH policies and plans.

Health Accounts exercises are only useful insofar as the findings are used to inform health policy. This primer is intended to enhance uptake and use of MCH findings by government officials and health system policymakers and managers in their work to improve health system performance. It emphasizes the importance of regular tracking of MCH spending data and showcases how this information can be interpreted and used by discussing several country examples.