Day two of IMNHC 2026 opened with a focused and urgent plenary that examined how global commitments in maternal and newborn health are translating into real progress at the country level.

The plenary opened with Allisyn Moran (WHO) and Gagan Gupta (UNICEF) giving us a preview of the upcoming EWENE-CSA Progress Tracking Report, an update to the first report that was introduced at IMNHC 2023. With 4.5 million maternal and child deaths annually, the message was clear: progress is mixed and accelerating action will require stronger alignment of financing, implementation, and accountability, with a sharper focus on quality and equity.

A panel of country perspectives reinforced these themes. Dr. Shobhna Gupta, Deputy Commissioner of Child Health, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for the Government of India highlighted a decentralized, bottom-up planning approach with dedicated financing and human resource strategies. Dr. Syed Kamrul Islam, Director Primary Health Care, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for Bangladesh emphasized institutionalizing quality of care from the outset. Dr. Iqbal Iaghbari, Director General of Reproductive Health, Ministry of Health of Yemen showcased an innovative voucher system to improve access in fragile settings, while Dr. Amadou Doucoure, Director of Maternal and Child Health at the Ministry of Health of Senegal demonstrated how data-driven planning can guide high-impact interventions. Across contexts, strong systems, sustained investment, and quality care emerged as common priorities.

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After the morning plenary, satellite sessions made up the remainder of the conference day. Highlights from a few of the satellite sessions included:

• Elevating Stillbirths: The launch of The State of Africa’s Stillbirths report from Africa CDC highlighted that nearly half of global stillbirths occur in Africa, yet remain underprioritized. Speakers emphasized that stillbirth is a critical indicator of health system quality and must be integrated into MNH strategies and accountability frameworks. “The longest walk I’ve ever done was walking out of a hospital three times without a baby,” shared Grace Mwashighadi, Co-Chair of The Lancet Stillbirth Advisory Committee. “I know first-hand what it means to be more than a statistic, because behind every stillbirth is a family, a mother, and a set of expectations, hopes and dreams that are suddenly interrupted.”
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) and MNH: Across multiple sessions, AI emerged as a promising but still evolving tool to strengthen maternal and newborn health systems. Practical applications—such as AI-enabled portable ultrasound—demonstrated how technology can expand access to diagnostics and support frontline providers in low-resource settings through real-time decision support. At the same time, broader discussions emphasized that AI must move beyond pilots to responsible, country-led scale, requiring clear governance, ethical safeguards, and alignment with health system needs. Importantly, AI was consistently framed not as a standalone solution, but as part of a broader package of innovations and evidence-based interventions that, when effectively implemented, can accelerate progress and improve quality of care.
• The Lancet Commission on Maternal and Newborn Health convened stakeholders for an evidence-informed dialogue focused on persistent and emerging challenges in maternal and newborn health. Discussions underscored ongoing systemic barriers—including workforce shortages, infrastructure gaps, and inequities in access to quality care—while highlighting the importance of grounding solutions in both data and lived experience. The session emphasized the need for coordinated, collaborative action and explored priorities such as strengthening integrated health systems, supporting the health workforce, and advancing accountability. Participants contributed key insights and identified areas for continued engagement with the Commission’s work.

• Tackling Anemia Across the Life Course: This session highlighted the urgent need to address anemia, which affects roughly one-third of women of reproductive age globally, through a life-course approach spanning adolescence to pregnancy. Drawing on WHO guidance and emerging evidence from the ReMAPP study, speakers connected global recommendations to country-level implementation, including practical lessons from IV iron delivery in antenatal care programs in Nigeria. The discussion emphasized adolescent nutrition as a critical entry point, offering a “triple dividend” of improved health for adolescents, future adults, and pregnancies, supported by interventions such as iron supplementation, management of menstrual health, and multisectoral delivery models from countries like Kenya and Ethiopia.
• Maternal, Newborn & Stillbirth Programmatic Transition Framework: In this standout session, WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, Global Financing Facility, and Exemplars in Global Health, Gates Foundation showcased a powerful framework helping countries move faster from data to decisions. First introduced at IMNHC 2023, the Maternal, Newborn & Stillbirth Programmatic Transition Framework groups countries into five stages based on maternal, newborn, and stillbirth mortality levels to support benchmarking and guide strategic planning. It uses integrated, data-driven analysis across MNH programs, health systems, community, and multi-sectoral factors to help countries pinpoint key drivers and prioritize evidence-based actions to speed-up mortality reduction. Real-world examples of using the tool from Tanzania, Rwanda, and Niger highlighted a key feature of the tool – the ability to use sub-national data to pinpoint disparities and focus efforts where they matter most to accelerate mortality reduction.

As day two closed, the emphasis was on moving from commitment to implementation—scaling what works while ensuring quality and equity.