Campaigns and Outreach

Through campaigns and outreach, PMNCH members plan and orchestrate the use of resources, activities and communication mechanisms to develop advocacy strategies aimed at strengthening political commitments, policies and financing efforts to protect the health, rights and well-being of women, children and adolescents. Throughout the current pandemic, we have focused on preventing COVID-19 from becoming a lasting crisis, while forging stronger primary health-care systems as a pathway to universal health coverage and fostering a more equitable world.

In 2021, PMNCH’s orchestration continued through the PMNCH COVID-19 Call to Action, launched in 2020 in response to the pandemic, which disrupted health services and exacerbated systemic and structural racial, ethnic and gender inequities everywhere. By the end of 2021, US$ 32.1 billion had been pledged through the Call to Action to restore essential health, nutrition and social services for women, newborns, children and adolescents, which had been disrupted by the pandemic.

Other coordinated efforts included #Adolescents2030, a global youth-led movement supported by PMNCH and partners, to mobilize young people around the adolescent well-being agenda. The Call to Action for Adolescent Well-Being, endorsed by 12 national governments in 2021, encourages countries to adopt policies and programmes that prioritize coordinated multisectoral investment. It also aims to build support for a “Global Forum for Adolescents” in 2023 to strengthen the global movement for adolescent well-being and to promote greater policy and financing commitments.

Champions and constituency groups were instrumental in mobilizing these commitments through direct or bilateral outreach facilitated by PMNCH, using digital and traditional media to reach national, regional and global audiences. One key strategy was to leverage the voices of champions, including former prime ministers and presidents Helen Clark, Michele Bachelet, Kersti Kaljulaid and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who amplified PMNCH messages through political op-eds and commentaries, open letters, interviews and representation on panels and in high-level dialogues. Media efforts in 2021 were estimated to reach up to 2.8 billion people per month through traditional media, and up to 2.7 million people through social media.

Evidence-based messaging disseminated through PMNCH channels equipped our partners with knowledge products and evidence for their advocacy goals, and brought community voices and demands to global fora.

In 2021, flagship PMNCH events such as Lives in the Balance and the 10th Annual Accountability Breakfast equipped PMNCH partners with tools to support the implementation of and accountability for commitments made in response to the Call to Action on COVID-19, and to amplify key messages relating to women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health and well-being. The events attracted more than 8000 registrants from more than 110 countries, with an average of 60% of participants based in low- and middle-income countries. These events reflect the relevance of partner engagement in coordinating action to help identify and meet the needs of women, children and adolescents.