Addressing maternal mortality has been a pressing issue in Africa. In African countries, maternal morbidity and mortality have complex and far-reaching consequences, affecting both individual and household levels, and with the potential to create a financial burden for the wider family. Women need to be healthy and safe to sustain and nourish their children’s lives post-birth.
To address this, the African Union launched the campaign on accelerated reduction of maternal mortality in Africa (CARMMA) on May 7, 2009 during the 4th Session of the Conference of AU Ministers of Health (CAMH4) held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, under the slogan, ‘Africa Cares: No Woman Should Die while Giving Life. The CARMMA campaign was designed to use policy dialogue, advocacy and community mobilization to enlist political commitment, and increase resources and societal change in support of Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH). The campaign was driven by the African Union Member States where they were expected to demonstrate their commitment to maternal, newborn and child health by nationally launching CARMMA, and developing follow-up implementation plans to monitor the progress of their commitments.
An evaluation of CARMMA campaign from the period May 2009 to December 2018 was commissioned by the African Union Commission (AUC), Department of Social Affairs to determine the relevance, effectiveness, impact and sustainability of the campaign and to make recommendations that would allow the campaign to further contribute to the reduction of maternal, newborn and child deaths and the achievement of the AU’s ‘Transformational Agenda 2063’, the global Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030) and other global commitments. A number of recommendations were made to strengthen the campaign between 2021 to 2030 with the aim of ending all preventable maternal, newborn, child and adolescent deaths by 2030. The evaluation revealed that African Union Member States that embraced the campaign at the highest political levels made significant improvements in their Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) indicators. The overall analysis of the campaign from its evaluation indicated that CARMMA is still relevant in Africa.
As a result of these recommendations, the CARMAA Plus campaign has been launched. The launch took place alongside the Eastern Africa Regional Early Childhood Conference scheduled from 11-14 March 2024 in the United Republic of Tanzania under the theme: “Investing in early childhood: Building Human Capital along life course.”
The next phase of implementation of the CARMMA Plus 2021 -2030 focuses on the unfinished Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) health agenda for women, newborn, children, and adolescents that birth the “Plus to CARMMA” to be entitled CARMMA Plus taking into account Africa’s transformative Agenda 2063, the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the revised African Health Strategy 2016-2030, and the revised Maputo Plan of Action (2016-2030) for women and children as well as the AU continental Strategy on education for health and wellbeing of young people.
The CARMMA Plus campaign will focus on four key objectives: 1. Broadening and strengthening accountability partnerships for RMNCAH, 2. Enhancing leadership and governance for RMNCAH policies and quality of services, 3. Improving Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) outcomes for adolescents through increased access to information, and services, and 4. Finally, strengthen knowledge management and learning systems.
It is expected that the CARMMA Plus campaign will serve as a catalyst to member states in efforts to end preventable deaths (survive), ensure health and well-being (thrive) and expand enabling environments (transform) for women, children and adolescents. Considering the expanded scope of CARMMA Plus, the new slogan will be “Africa Cares: Better reproductive health for women, children and adolescents by 2030”. The new slogan focuses on people-centered reproductive health outcomes inclusive of women, children and adolescents. Meaningful male involvement will also be part of the initiative to realize improved RMNCAH in Africa.
