Providing door-to-door health care for mothers and children under five years of age greatly reduces mortality. Thanks to a program of home visits by community health care workers funded by the Clinton Health Access Initiative, the Yirimadio neighborhood of Mali’s capital city, Bamako, has succeeded in dramatically reducing childhood mortality. The government intends to scale the pilot program into a nationwide campaign by 2022.

Providing mothers with access to health education during and after pregnancy helps reduce child mortality. In Nigeria, the Mamacare program teaches pregnant women about nutrition, hygiene, and infant health at clinics across Lagos State. The program, which is affiliated with WellBeing Foundation Africa, uses a network of midwives, who share experiences, teach lessons, and encourage the women to give birth at clinics.