Strengthening accountability for women and babies is fundamental to MamaYe, whether at global, regional, national or local level. So it is with particular delight, that we congratulate Aminu Magashi Garba of the Africa Health Budget Network who has been appointed as co-convenor of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) steering group on driving accountability.PMNCH is a network of more than 725 partner organisations working in sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, representing a broad constituency in support of achieving the goals of the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health.PMNCH has brought together a select group of movers and shakers, including Dr Flavia Bustreo, Assistant Director General of WHO and Yogan Pillary of the South African Ministry of Health, to promote a culture of open accountability to drive purposeful engagement and sustained commitment, track progress and hold countries to account on implementation of the Global Strategy.Civil society engagement – through Aminu’s strategic role - within the accountability pillar of the Global Strategy demonstrates the value that PMNCH places on hearing the voice of the public.Giving the public information on how their government is doing on health financing is central to the work of AHBN, and how it has made an impact.Whether by publishing scorecards showing how countries are doing on health spending or budget transparency, setting out minimum standards for national-level civil society engagement within the Global Financing Facility or through the launch of its #ValueOurHealth campaign which calls for open participatory budget processes, the AHBN is strengthening accountability across Africa.I would like to play tribute to the role that Aminu, in partnership with MamaYe, has played in making the AHBN a success. His experience developing national and sub-national accountability mechanisms during his time working at MamaYe, as well as his involvement in the Global Financing Facility consultations will stand him in good stead for taking a leading role in making the next phase of PMNCH a success, too.
It is with particular delight, that we congratulate Aminu Magashi Garba of the Africa Health Budget Network who has been appointed as co-convenor of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health steering group on driving accountability.