Advancing evidence-based, locally owned solutions to reduce maternal and newborn mortality
TAConnect, in collaboration with the African Centre of Excellence for Population Health and Policy (ACEPHAP) and key stakeholders in Gombe State, convened a two-day Co-Creation Workshop for the Enhancing Maternal and Baby Resilience through Access, Care and Equity (EMBRACE) Project from 19–20 May 2026. The workshop brought together 67 participants from government institutions, development partners, civil society, traditional and religious leaders, health facility leadership, and community structures to jointly design context-specific interventions to reduce maternal and newborn mortality.
Anchored on findings from a validated Landscape Assessment and Political Economy Analysis of the MNCH system in the state, the sessions confronted persistent bottlenecks in service delivery, governance, financing, and accountability. Discussions highlighted systemic challenges including weak integration between primary and secondary care, fragmented financing, limited emergency transport, and human resource gaps, the last emerging as a recurring cross-cutting concern.
Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, the EMBRACE project was presented as a transformative initiative to improve the availability, accessibility, quality, and continuity of maternal and newborn care. Stakeholders reaffirmed a hub-and-spoke model linking primary and secondary facilities and worked through structured sessions to validate findings and co-design strategies across service delivery, demand generation, commodity security, governance, and sustainability.
The workshop secured consensus on priority interventions, including strengthening emergency transport, improving PHC–secondary referral linkages, enhancing data use, and expanding community engagement through Ward Development Committees. Participants also agreed on a strengthened governance framework, anchored by a Steering Committee aligned with existing Technical Working Groups. They reviewed a phased roadmap with clear roles for TAConnect and ACEPHAP in supporting 15 PHCs and 3 secondary facilities.
Concluding with strong consensus and validated implementation pathways, the workshop reaffirmed TAConnect and ACEPHAP’s commitment to co-creation, evidence-driven programming, and government-led system strengthening, marking a critical step from evidence generation toward scalable, context-appropriate solutions for maternal and newborn survival in Gombe State.
