Mali

Through the USAID MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience program, Pathfinder works northern Mali to improve health services in areas experiencing significant insecurity from the presence of armed and radical groups. This security context has led to a shortage of trained and qualified health providers. In Gao and Timbuktu, MOMENTUM is restoring public health services, focused on increasing the resilience of households, communities, and health systems. This work, builds on previous and ongoing USAID/Mali Health Office investments in service delivery, supply chains, information systems strengthening and policies, as well as activities funded by USAID’s Office of Humanitarian Assistance. 

MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience seeks to increase health system resilience and preparedness in Gao and Timbuktu. MOMENTUM works with  partners to achieve the following results:  

1. Improved and equitable access to essential services, including maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) care; family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) services; and immunization, nutrition, and household water, sanitation, and hygiene services (including emergency care).
2. Increased accountability of district and other local governance structures to absorb, adapt to, and recover from health system shocks and stresses. 
3. Increased cross-sectoral collaboration to improve or prevent backsliding of health outcomes. 

In Mali, MOMENTUM supports 38 community-funded health centers and two referral hospitals in  Gao and Timbuktu with health provider trainings, mentorship, and on-site supervision, as well as emergency preparedness and response. Through mentorship, health staff  identify shocks and stresses that impact service delivery and develop action plans to ensure service continuity. Providers also learn how to reduce their biases when providing FP/RH services to adolescents and youth through a  behavior change approach that engages providers, community members, and young people.  

At the community level, MOMENTUM strengthens the technical and organizational capacity of local NGOs to implement integrated social and behavior change interventions for FP/RH, MNCH, nutrition, and immunization. These include intergenerational dialogues; educational talks in schools; awareness raising among community leaders; information, education, and communication sessions in community health centers ; and nutritional demonstrations.

Country Details

• Modern contraceptive prevalence rate: 16% 
• Unmet need for FP: 24% 
• Maternal mortality rate: 325 per 100,000 live births 
• Newborn mortality rate: 33 per 1,000 live births 
• Adolescent pregnancy contributes to 36% of overall fertility 

Related Resources

• Strengthening Health Resilience in Northern Mali
• Breaking the Silence on Family Planning in Northern Regions of Mali

Photo Caption: A family planning officer speaks to a community group during an intergenerational dialogue in Bellafarandi, Timbuktu. Photo Credit: ADIC Sahel (via MOMENTUM)