Efforts to improve global health cannot be achieved without stronger health systems. In the 2017 Acting on the Call report, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) estimated that investments in evidence-based health system strengthening activities could contribute to saving the lives of 5.6 million children and 260,000 women from 2016 to 2020 in priority countries. 

The Wilson Center and USAID’s flagship Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP) discussed health systems strengthening in the pursuit of improved reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health (RMNCAH) services globally.

Speakers:

  • Grace Chee, Health Systems Strengthening & Equity Team Lead, USAID's Flagship Maternal & Child Survival Program
  • Dr. Koki Agarwal, Director, USAID's Flagship Maternal & Child Survival Program
  • Mariam Claeson, Director, GFF
  • Dr. Birhanu Getahun, Technical Director, USAID's Flagship Maternal & Child Survival Program, Liberia
  • Dr. Stephen Mutwiwa, Chief of Party, USAID's Flagship Maternal & Child Survival Program, Rwanda
  • Lee Pyne-Mercier, Senior Program Officer, Maternal, Newborn & Child Health, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  • Kelly Saldaña, Director, Office of Health Systems, USAID Global Health Bureau
  • Mary Taylor, Global Health Expert

Moderator: Joan Mower, Head of Development and Training, Broadcasting Board of Governors, Voice of America