Mali

Mali is rich in culture and natural resources, but most of its citizens are impoverished and maternal health care is limited and often of poor quality. Only eight percent of the poorest mothers give birth with medical assistance, and not necessarily at a safe, well-supplied facility. As part of the USAID-funded Action for West Africa Region—Reproductive Health (AWARE-RH) Project, since 2003 EngenderHealth has worked with the government of Mali and local partners to:

• Integrate postabortion care services into routine maternal care services;
• Provide training in manual vacuum aspiration, an abortion technique that does not require general anesthesia and can be safely used by a wide range of providers and in a variety of settings, from rural clinics to hospitals; 
• Advocate for improved maternal health care policy;
• Promote health care reform through the use of national health accounts, a tool designed to measure health expenditures, so administrators can better understand how health resources are used;
• Raise awareness of the Reproductive Health Law, a legislative initiative to promote access to family planning and reproductive health care;
• Arrange a regional meeting of 400 participants from non-government organizations (NGOs) and ministries of health to share the best practices in community-based health financing.