Cambodia Fast Track Initiative Road Map for Reducing Maternal and Newborn Mortality

Cambodia's Fast Track Initiative Road Map for Reducing Maternal and Newborn Mortality was first developed in 2009 to accelerate the country's progress toward the Millennium Development Goals for maternal and child health, and was extended for a further period covering 2016 to 2020 to carry that work forward under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The road map sits as a high-level document nested within Cambodia's national Health Strategic Plan and a set of supporting sub-sector strategies, among them the Sexual and Reproductive Health Strategy, the Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care Improvement Plan, and a Five-Year Action Plan for Newborn Care. Under its 2016 to 2020 extension, the road map drove concrete activities including coaching health workers nationwide on immediate newborn care, introducing structured quality improvement processes for newborn care, establishing multi-disciplinary core teams at provincial hospitals to monitor and support early essential newborn care, and building dedicated data collection systems to track detailed newborn care indicators. Cambodia had already reached its Millennium Development Goal targets for maternal mortality, neonatal mortality and other core maternal and newborn health indicators by 2015.