Transforming Maternal and Child Health and Wellness: The 1000 Days Initiative

The 1000 Days Initiative is a transformational approach to producing healthy mothers and live, thriving babies amongst economically vulnerable populations.  It replaces the compartmentalized efforts of the past with an integrated approach of wellness and health services over the course of a woman's pregnancy and the first two years of life.  It combines best practices for maternal and newborn care with the provision of nutrition, immunizations, and clean water in a single package.   These services are delivered through a system that relies upon community health workers based out of wellness centers, who are armed with mHealth tools and backed up by telemedical response centers that are connected to the traditional health system, led by Apollo Hospital Group.  The full system is enabled by the latest in integrated modern and mobile information technologies, provided by multi-sector partnerships, making the services more affordable, accessible and sustainable.   The Initiative expects to not only dramatically reduce maternal and infant mortality, but to advance the health and prosperity of poor communities in the developing world by creating a model for empowering a generation of mothers and infants. The Initiative is supported by a strong thought leadership and research program led by PHFI and global health experts from the Harvard School of Public Health.   Once the operational model is proven using this proposal, the 1000 Days Initiative will be deployed over a significantly larger population, according to three different business models: Social Entrepreneur/Private Pay model, the NGO model, and the Government model.