MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience
This project works to strengthen health resilience and continue providing high-quality, respectful, maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH), voluntary family planning (FP), and reproductive health (RH) health care in fragile settings.
Countries affected by conflicts, disasters, and other shocks and stresses often experience disruptions to basic health services and systems. These can range from family planning services and routine immunization to safe deliveries and ensuring adequate health supplies. MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience works alongside local organizations, governments, and humanitarian and development partners to strengthen health resilience and improve overall health. One of the project’s main strategies is to increase the capacity of partner country institutions and local organizations—including new and underutilized partners—to introduce, deliver, scale up, and sustain MNCH/FP/RH care in the face of crises.
Developing Health Resilience to Counter the Effects of Fragility
Weak governance of social, economic, and health systems is a hallmark of the fragile settings in which MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience operates. In these settings, fragility can be triggered or exacerbated by civil and political conflicts, natural disasters, weak institutions, economic shocks, climate change events, population displacement, extreme poverty or corruption, and other acute shocks or chronic stresses. To offset the effect of these shocks and stresses on health care, the project works to strengthen health resilience, or the “ability of people, households, communities, systems, and countries to mitigate, adapt to, and recover from shocks and stresses, in a manner that reduces acute and chronic vulnerabilities, and facilitates equitable health outcomes” (USAID). Strengthening resilience includes improving preparedness, response, and recovery from shocks and stresses that affect MNCH/FP/RH care.
Integrating a Lifecycle Approach
MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience’s strategy to improve the health of women, children, and adolescents is built on a life-course perspective. This acknowledges that events occurring early in one’s life greatly influence health outcomes later in life. Our lifecycle approach promotes integrated care at all levels, from individual to national-level services, to improve health across the pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, childbirth, postnatal, infancy, childhood, and adolescent life continuum.
Adapting Programming to Fit the Context
MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience collaborates with global, regional, and local public and private partners to assess the fragility, complexity, and risks of programming contexts and situations. The project then adapts programming based on the needs of a particular country and the specific shock or stress. Collaboration, learning, and adaptation coordinated by the project help to monitor ongoing situations. Data collection helps to identify any gaps in knowledge and to modify programming as needed.
Strengthening Local Voices
MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience strives to elevate local voices in global discussions. For example, the project facilitates the active participation and leadership of local organizations and experts through virtual and in-person meetings, conferences, and other regional and global events. Together with the other MOMENTUM projects, MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience works to increase public-private partnerships in which local voices may be under-represented. These can involve partnerships between health and non-health organizations, educational institutions, community- and faith-based organizations, and corporate and philanthropic organizations.
Building Social Accountability, Health Equity, and Inclusion
MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience emphasizes youth-and gender-equitable program design and monitoring to address social factors that influence the health of women, newborns, children, and families. This approach improves health system care for underserved communities, including the poorest, most marginalized, and stigmatized populations. Building social accountability encourages communities and public officials to work together to ensure that services provided are relevant for all parties. A holistic approach, including engaging men and boys to promote gender equity, helps reduce disparities and strengthens community-level interventions for all.