The GFF at the International Maternal Newborn Health Conference (IMNHC)
The GFF is proud to co-sponsor and participate in the International Maternal Newborn Health Conference (IMNHC).
IMNHC 2026 comes at a critical juncture. With progress slowing in many countries and preventable maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths persisting, the conference aims to drive urgent action by assessing where we stand, identifying remaining challenges, sharing the most effective tools and evidence, strengthening accountability, and unlocking new financing and partnerships to transform the future of maternal and newborn health.
The GFF fully supports this agenda—maternal and newborn health has been central to its work since the GFF was launched in 2015 with a mission to end the preventable deaths of women, children and adolescents. As a country-led partnership, the GFF supports 36 partner countries to mobilize more resources to deliver better health and nutrition outcomes for women, children and adolescents.
A decade on, the model is delivering strong results. All GFF partner countries have reduced maternal and under-five mortality. Prior to engaging with the GFF, partner countries had slower than average global progress on reducing maternal and child mortality. With GFF support, they are now outpacing global averages.
At the IMNHC, building from this experience, the GFF will highlight country voices and leadership, share knowledge products and resources, provide insight on proven and sustainable financing solutions, and mobilize greater alignment behind national health priorities for mothers and newborns.
Come visit us at Booth #X to say hello and learn more about the GFF!
Find more resources below. (graphic forthcoming).
Join us in Nairobi for these sessions:
Tuesday, March 24 | 9:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. EAT | Boardroom 23
This session will explore how countries are building analytical capacity to analyze and use data to accelerate progress in reducing maternal and newborn mortality and stillbirths. Drawing on lessons from the 2025 multicountry workshop and multicountry Countdown studies, the session will feature experiences from Kenya, Zambia, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and the Democratic Republic of Congo on how evidence is being translated into policies and programs. It will also present key findings from Countdown's multicountry study on the maternal and newborn mortality transition and equity analyses linking women's empowerment to service coverage. Global partners—including WHO, PMNCH, UNICEF, the GFF and the Gates Foundation—will discuss how such country-driven analyses can inform collective accountability and investments. The session will engage participants interactively to identify strategies for scaling evidence use and sustaining country-led data platforms for maternal and newborn health improvement.
# # #
Tuesday, March 24 | 9:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. EAT | Boardroom 22
At IMNHC 2023, the integrated maternal, newborn, and stillbirth (MNS) mortality transition framework was introduced as a useful approach for describing factors associated with mortality reduction. In the years since, this framework has become the foundation of key strategic planning tools used to identify priorities and inform decision making. In this Maternal, Newborn Stillbirth Programmatic Transition Framework satellite session, WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF, GFF and Gates Ventures will demonstrate tools and resources to operationalize this novel programmatic framework, highlighting selected country use-cases and facilitating hands-on participant interaction with practical tools. This session will showcase the utility of the MNS programmatic transition framework for identifying strategic MNH priorities to accelerate progress for women and newborns, even in the current global financing landscape.
# # #
Financing Maternal and Newborn Healthcare in a Changing Global Health Landscape
Tuesday, March 24 | 2:00 – 5:15 p.m. EAT | Boardroom 23
The global health landscape has experienced an unprecedented decline in development assistance for health that threatens the gains that countries have made towards achieving universal health coverage (UHC). In this backdrop, this session aims to interrogate how financing of the health sector can and may change and the tools to help effect that change. The session will first do a World Bank–GFF 101 on financing and programmatic processes and instruments; will continue by reviewing ways to adapt prioritization with evidence based budget and programmatic data; and will also look at promising collaborations aimed at effecting resilient and sustainable financing for MNH to accelerate progress on achieving UHC.
# # #
Empowering Tomorrow: Partnering to Deliver Maternal and Newborn Health at Scale
Tuesday, March 24 | 2:30 – 5:15 p.m. EAT | Boardroom 4
Despite global commitments to end preventable maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths by 2030, progress remains off-track. Each year, more than 2.3 million newborns die and 1.9 million stillbirths occur, largely from preventable causes. While effective interventions are well known, the greatest barriers to impact are increasingly implementation and coordination challenges rather than lack of evidence or innovation.
Countries face fragmented partner support, parallel delivery platforms, workforce constraints, weak supply chains, and inconsistent use of data for decision making. At the same time, fiscal pressures and changing global aid landscapes heighten the need for efficient, aligned delivery models. Emerging experience shows that progress accelerates when governments lead One Plan, One Budget, and One Implementation approaches that align partners, integrate maternal and newborn health (MNCH) into broader health systems, and focus relentlessly on quality at scale.
This panel focuses on how coordinated partnerships-among governments, UNICEF, WHO, the GFF, philanthropic actors, and regional leaders-can strengthen implementation pathways for MNCH. The session emphasizes delivery, accountability, and learning, with financing positioned as an enabling mechanism rather than the primary objective.
# # #
The Small and/or Sick Newborn Planning & Costing Tool: A Hands-On Tool to Plan and Budget for Delivering and Scaling up Inpatient Level-2 Unit Care
Thursday, March 26 | 9:00 – 11:30 a.m. EAT | Innovation Marketplace | Ballroom 1 and 2
