Ethiopia's current strategic plan for health is the Health Sector Development and Investment Plan (HSDIP) for the period 2023/24 to June 2025/26. . The Ethiopian government, through the Ministry of Health, which serves as the Secretariat of the HSTP, periodically tracks progress in key HSTP indicators including RMNCAH+N indicators, which form more than half of the overall set of indicators and targets. Other national strategic plans include the Information Revolution Roadmap developed in 2016 – one of the four transformation agendas of the health sector – which aims at advancing the methods and practices of collecting, analyzing, presenting, and using information, guides the generation and use of data for decision making at all levels of the health system, including the  implementation and monitoring of RMNCAH+N interventions.

According to the HSDIP 2023/24 to June 2025/26, Ethiopia intends to achieve the following by 2026: Lower maternal mortality by 26% (267 in 2023 to 199 per 100,000 live births) and neonatal mortality by 19% (26 in 2023 to 21 per 1,000 live births in 2026). The plan has also identified ambitious targets to increase RMNCH service utilization, such as increasing skilled birth attendance from 62% to 78%, increasing pentavalent 3 coverage from 65% to 80%.(The HSDIP is currently in the draft form, undergoing discussions, and has not yet been finalised. As a result, there is a possibility that the targets outlined in the plan will be changed in the future).

Ethiopia launched and is implementing the 2020/21-2024/25 National Health Equity and Safety Strategic Plan, which aims to reduce the inequalities among subpopulations. The main stratifiers for the majority of the indicators are residence, region, education status, wealth quintile, and some indicator-specific stratifiers such as religion, disability, maternal age, child age, gender, etc

The Global Financing Facility investment case for Ethiopia has been approved and implemented since 2017. Within the GFF investment case, Ethiopia periodically tracks progress for key indicators using existing surveys and health information reporting systems. Therefore, ongoing review of RMNCAH+N indicators remains critical to informing planning and implementation of RMCAH+N interventions.

Planned Research for 2023-2025

The ultimate goal of Ethiopia  Countdown to 2030 Country collaboration study  is to generate evidence relevant to inform policies, guide strategic planning and support programs related to reproductive, maternal and neonatal and child health towards achieving national and global targets outlined in HSDIP 2023/24 -2025/26  and SDG 2030, respectively.  Major thematic research areas:

• To conduct in-depth analysis on the trends and equity of reproductive, maternal and child health services: with a focus on antenatal, delivery, postnatal care, family planning, and immunization.
• To assess the readiness and quality of services for antenatal, delivery, postnatal care, family planning, and immunization services by facility type, residence area, and geography.
• In-depth analysis of Quality-adjusted coverage of delivery, family planning, and immunization
• To explore the drivers and influencing factors of health gains in family planning, immunization, and delivery in Ethiopia.
• To improve country-led monitoring and analysis of progress and performance of the health system and use of health data for transparency and accountability.

Achievements for 2020-2022:

• In-depth analysis of the factors that contributed to declines in maternal and newborn health during 2000-2020; to be published online soon.
• Analytical end-line review of the HSTP I, a comprehensive report on the progress and performance during the HSTP I.
• Thematic in-depth assessment of levels and trends in RMNCAH+N indicators, with a focus on equity in based on the household survey data. The MNH report is available to view here.
• Technical inputs that were used to develop an analytical report for an annual review of HSTP-II.
• A suite of analytical methods and tools for the Ethiopian Public Health Institute and the Ministry of Health analytical team to use for future analysis of and reporting on national and subnational performance, using DHIS2 and other data in the context of health plan reviews.
• National and subnational statistical profiles, fact sheets, and policy briefs, available here.
• Scientific publications and reports, which are discussed in this policy brief.
• Multicountry analysis of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The country collaboration funded by GFF includes:

• A completed analytical end-line review of the HSTP I, a comprehensive report on the progress and performance during the HSTP I.
• Thematic in-depth assessment of levels and trends in RMNCAH+N indicators, with a focus on equity in based on the household survey data. The MNH report is available to view here.
• Technical inputs that were used to develop an analytical report for an annual review of HSTP-II.
• A suite of analytical methods and tools for the Ethiopian Public Health Institute and the Ministry of Health analytical team to use for future analysis of and reporting on national and subnational performance, using DHIS2 and other data in the context of health plan reviews.
• National and subnational statistical profiles, fact sheets, and policy briefs, available here.
• Scientific publications and reports, which is discussed in this policy brief.

A summary of the outputs from the GFF team can be accessed here.