Impact partner profile
One Heart Worldwide
Saving the lives of mothers and newborns worldwide
At their core, One Heart Worldwide believes that all women and newborns should receive the quality healthcare services they deserve during pregnancy and childbirth, any time and any place. Their goal is to reduce the risk of maternal and neonatal mortality by improving access to, and the utilisation of, healthcare services in remote, rural areas.
Every 107 seconds, a woman around the world dies due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth. Every 14 seconds, a newborn baby dies. Most of these deaths occur in low-resource settings without a Skilled Birth Attendant, and could have been prevented with simple interventions. Studies show that the greatest burden of maternal and perinatal mortality is clustered around the time of birth, with the majority of deaths occurring within the first 24 hours after delivery. To help communities create an effective continuum of maternal and newborn health services, One Heart Worldwide implements a Network of Safety model. The model aims to strengthen the existing healthcare system to create an equitable system, where all women and newborns receive the quality healthcare services they deserve.
The Network of Safety approach involves skills transfer, community engagement, and facility upgrades within low-resource communities. Their sustainable model is grounded in deep respect for local culture and participation, and is fully aligned with local priorities. The government and local communities also co-invest in the delivery of One Heart Worldwide's program, and once outcome goals are achieved, they fully maintain this approach, ensuring long-term impact sustainability. As a result of their years of work, One Heart Worldwide’s programs are transforming Maternal and Newborn Health care in rural Nepal. Three years after their pilot programs in Baglung and Dolpa, maternal and newborn deaths in the regions decreased by 89% and 87%, respectively. Both of these districts now have the necessary infrastructure, led exclusively by their local governments, to deliver quality Maternal and Newborn Health services to 18,200 mothers and newborns annually. Now, the team impacts approximately 150,000 mothers and newborns annually in 36 rural districts across Nepal.
Core impact goals
Expanding their reach
One Heart Worldwide aims to support Nepal’s national plan to provide quality Maternal and Newborn Health services to all rural, pregnant women and their newborn infants. By the end of 2021, they aim to have impacted over 360,000 pregnancies in Nepal over the twelve years of the program.
Increasing maternal and newborn health services utilisation
Measured by the number of births attended by a trained health care provider, as well as the number of institutional deliveries, One Heart Worldwide aim to increase observed, and maintained, service utilisation by 30% in all districts who’ve completed three years of their program.
Decreasing maternal and neonatal mortality
One Heart Worldwide are aiming to see a 50% observed, and maintained, decline in maternal and neonatal mortality in districts that have been a part of the program for six or more years and which the team have since exited.
Increasing government participation
One Heart Worldwide are working towards 80% of local municipalities increasing their funding share for birthing centre renovations to 50% (from the current 35% that exists in all municipalities). They are also working to have 100% of their municipality partners prioritise Maternal and Newborn Health by setting aside budgets specifically earmarked for this purpose.
Type of grant funding given
Impact milestones
FY2022 impact milestones
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- Reach 87,000 pregnancies in 20 districts by implementing the 'Network of Safety Model' which supports Nepal's national plan to provide quality Maternal and Neonatal Health services to rural pregnant women and their newborns.
- Train 1,600 community outreach providers and 89 new skilled birth attendants, and reach 2,568 medical service providers with continued medical education (CME).
- Improve the local Maternal and Newborn Health infrastructure by upgrading 64 health facilities into fully functioning birthing centres and providing supplemental equipment to 7 birthing centres.
- Raise $4M by the end of 2022 to reach One Heart Worldwide's strategic objectives, growing the annual budget by 18%.
FY2021 impact milestones
12 month (July 2020-June 2021) unrestricted funded grant: $750,000 AUD
Improve the local demand for Maternal and Newborn Health services by training 2,217 community outreach providers.
OHW increased their training target to 2,912 community outreach providers, previously 2,217 and within the grant period, trained 3,078 (106% of target).
Improve local health care providers Maternal and Newborn Health knowledge and skills by training 77 new Skilled Birth Attendants and providing Continued Medical Education to 719 medical providers.
OHW increased their targets to training 96 Skilled Birth Assistants (SBAs), and providing Continued Medical Education to 764 medical providers. OHW exceeded these goals by training 128 SBAs (133% of target), and providing continued education to 1,403 medical providers (184% of target).
Improve the local Maternal and Newborn Health infrastructure by upgrading 129 health facilities into fully functioning birthing centres and providing supplemental equipment to 31 birthing centres.
OHW reduced their target of upgrading health facilities to 107 from 129 due to COVID-19 related travel restrictions, which caused implications for the shipping of materials, equipment and supplies in a timely manner. These upgrades have been pushed back to a later date. OHW upgraded 105 (98% of target).
OHW increased their target for providing supplemental equipment to 53 birthing centres. OHW provided 49 (92% of target) birthing centres with supplemental equipment.
Improve the quality of care provided in rural birthing centres by providing Quality Of Care support to 155 birthing centres, and supplemental support to 120.
OHW decreased their target to provide Quality of Care support to 78 birthing centres, previously at 155, due to COVID-19 related delays in program implementation in Sarlahi Parbat and Myagdi. These targets were to be implemented across three districts, and as a result of the delays, have been pushed back to a later date.
The grant period actual totalled 92 (118% of the updated target).
OHW increased their target of providing supplemental support to 423 birthing centres, previously 120. The grant period totalled 405 (96% of target).
Develop the local community engagement by training 1,427 local stakeholders to manage the newly upgraded birthing centres, provide technical support to 108 local municipalities in planning and budgeting for MNH, strengthen the governance in 74 birthing centres and mobilize 199 local community groups.
OHW increased the target number of stakeholders to be trained to 1,427, previously 1,300 and successfully trained 1,510 (106% of target).
OHW was not able to provide technical support to the local municipalities due to COVID-19 lockdowns.
OHW met their target of strengthening the governance in 74 birthing centres.
OHW increased the target number of community groups to 443 due to an increased need for community outreach due to the impact of COVID-19 and successfully mobilised 493 community groups (111% of target).
