EngenderHealth Announces New USAID Award to Advance Global Momentum for Safe Surgery for Maternal Health and Voluntary Family Planning

October 6, 2020 (Washington, DC)—EngenderHealth today announced it will lead a partnership, supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), to increase the capacity of host country institutions and local organizations to strengthen surgical safety within maternal health and family planning programs by promoting evidence-based approaches and testing new innovations. USAID will award up to $40 million to the global safe surgery project, part of the MOMENTUM suite of USAID projects, to promote awareness of, and equitable access to, high-quality care for voluntary, consented safe surgeries for Caesarean delivery, fistula repair, childbirth-related hysterectomy, long-acting reversible contraception, and permanent family planning methods. Three core partners will join EngenderHealth to implement the project: IntraHealth International, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs. The partnership will also collaborate with resource partners, including the International Confederation of Midwives, Viamo, and regional professional associations of surgeons and other clinicians.

In announcing the award, USAID noted the MOMENTUM suite of projects is designed “to increase the capacity of partner country institutions and local organizations to introduce, deliver, scale-up, and sustain the use of evidence-based, high-quality maternal, newborn, and child health services, voluntary family planning, and reproductive health care.” With regard to the safe surgery award, USAID wrote, “This award emphasizes working with local partners and country institutions to improve childbirth outcomes and better meet people’s voluntary family planning needs by identifying and reducing barriers to maternal health and family planning care seeking; catalyzing action among communities; promoting gender equity and respectful maternity care principles; and generating research and learning to support scaling new approaches.”

EngenderHealth President & CEO, Traci L. Baird, said, “The safe surgery focus of the MOMENTUM 3A award leverages EngenderHealth’s experience delivering results since 2007 for the USAID-funded Fistula Care and Fistula Care Plus projects. This important project will also build on and deepen our engagement with governments, communities, healthcare providers, and health systems around the world. We look forward to working closely with our implementing partners and USAID to overcome existing barriers to safe surgical care for maternal and reproductive health.”

The project will be led by Vandana Tripathi, MPH, PhD, who has worked with EngenderHealth since 2014, serving first as Deputy Director and then Director of Fistula Care Plus. Tripathi has more than 20 years of experience in the fields of maternal and newborn health, reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, and human rights.

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About EngenderHealth

EngenderHealth envisions a gender-equal world where all people achieve their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). To reach that vision, we implement high-quality, gender-equitable programs that advance SRHR, which we define broadly to include contraceptive counseling and services, maternal health, comprehensive sexuality education, gender-based violence prevention and counseling, comprehensive abortion care, and more. EngenderHealth collaborates with governments, private sector partners, international experts, and local organizations and communities in order to reach marginalized groups—including girls, women, and gender minorities; adolescents and youth; people with disabilities; economically disadvantaged groups; and rural and other hard-to-reach populations.