Through three phases of this regional award from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, IntraHealth International is working to improve client-centered nutrition and reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health in the francophone West Africa through the integration of essential services. INSPiRE is demonstrating that providing a comprehensive package of services—including postpartum family planning, MNCH, and nutrition (PPFP-MNCH-N)—during a single visit improves utilization, quality, and cost-effectiveness of services.

Francophone West Africa has among the highest maternal, neonatal, and child mortality rates in the world. More than 287,000 pregnant women died in 2020, more than half of them in West and Central Africa. The global maternal mortality rate is 223/100,000 live births, while the maternal mortality rate in the Ouagadougou Partnership countries of West Africa—Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote D’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Togo—is 425/100,000 live births, ranging from 261 in Senegal) to 553 in Guinea.

Together, IntraHealth and our partners work with the nine Ouagadougou Partnership countries to scale up integration of PFPP-MNCH-N services to:

• Achieve their national goals to increase modern contraceptive prevalence rates
• Stop preventable maternal and child deaths
• Improve maternal nutrition and feeding practices for infants and young children
• Ensure the health, nutrition, and well-being of mothers, newborns, and infants.

Between 2019 and 2023, INSPiRE saw an overall 123% increase in new family planning users, a 275% increase in postpartum family planning use at supported health facilities, and a 380% increase in well-baby visits for growth monitoring. Among the children who were monitored, fewer than 1 child in 100 presented with acute malnutrition in 2023.

During INSPiRE I and II, IntraHealth, partners, and national stakeholders developed the INSPiRE Integration Model, established national technical working groups (TWGs) and a regional Integration Community of Practice (CoP), adopted regional indicators of integration, and developed eLearning modules on integration for health workers. 

Now, during Phase III of the project (2023 – 2027), IntraHealth and partners are:

• Making the case for client-centered integrated services through routine data, implementation science, impact evaluation, and cost studies and disseminating findings
• Reinforcing the regional CoP for coordination, technical assistance, advocacy, and resource mobilization to scale up integrated services
• Advocating to governments, implementers, and donors to mobilize resources for, and implement the INSPiRE model
• Assisting TWGs to meaningfully engage civil society organizations, including youth and women’s associations, to amplify integration advocacy. 

Read more: IntraHealth Launches INSPiRE: Women's & Newborn Health, New Phase of Successful Service Integration Initiative in Francophone West Africa | IntraHealth