Countdown to 2030: Strengthening Global, Regional and Country Analytic Capacity

Project lead: Kristine Nilsen

Funding: Countdown to 2030, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, administered by UNICEF

Start: Aug 2020
Completion: Nov 2022

Data, capacity and skills constraints mean that low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) face substantial challenges producing data to support reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition (RMNCAH +N) interventions. This is particularly the case when ministries of health or other health organisations try to target initiatives at a local level to disadvantaged people. To meet this need WorldPop are leading the Countdown to 2030 Geospatial Data and Analysis Centre.

In this project we worked with partners to enhance integrated analysis of data from traditional and novel sources. Traditional data sources typically comprise of health facility, census and household surveys. We augmented these with other sources such as satellite imagery, GIS datasets and data with GPS locations to estimate and map births, pregnancies and women of childbearing age, access to care, and the coverage of interventions and services at national and subnational levels.

The Countdown to 2030 web site provides further information on our role in leading the Geospatial Data & Analysis Centre. The project provided the following outcomes:

  • Creation of global public goods that advance monitoring and measurement of RMNCAH+N coverage, quality, and equity across the continuum of care across low- and middle-income countries with the highest burden countries for maternal and under-five (including newborn) mortality.
  • Increased cross-country learning and sharing experiences through the Countdown regional networks and multi-country meetings for monitoring, learning and evaluation.
  • Strengthened country-led evidence synthesis and the Global Financing Facility (GFF) results monitoring and measurement improvements.
  • Improved communication and use of evidence on global, regional and country RMNCAH+N progress and performance, with a focus on inequalities and using policy, program and accountability linkages combined with effective partnerships.