Costing Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) Interventions in Nigeria

Timeline: Juillet 2019 – Mars 2021 | Status: Completed

Nigéria

Project Overview

Improving the health and wellbeing of women, newborns, children, and adolescents requires sustained investment in high-impact interventions. However, governments and development partners can only make effective investment decisions when they understand the true costs of delivering these services at scale.

Between Juillet 2019 and Mars 2021, the Health Strategy and Delivery Foundation (HSDF), in collaboration with Duke University and the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH), implemented the Costing Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) Interventions in Nigeria project.

The project focused on generating evidence on the financial resources required to deliver priority RMNCAH interventions across the health system. RMNCAH encompasses a broad range of services that support reproductive health, safe pregnancy and childbirth, newborn survival, child health, nutrition, and adolescent wellbeing. These services are fundamental to reducing preventable deaths and improving population health outcomes.

Through rigorous costing analysis, the project provided policymakers, programme managers, and development partners with evidence to support budgeting, resource mobilisation, programme planning, and investment prioritisation.

Nigeria continues to face significant challenges in maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health. While many proven interventions exist, implementing them effectively and sustainably requires a clear understanding of the costs involved.

Without reliable costing information, governments may struggle to estimate resource needs, prioritise investments, or assess the affordability of scaling critical health programmes. As health financing resources become increasingly constrained, evidence on the cost of delivering RMNCAH services is essential for ensuring that limited funds are allocated where they can achieve the greatest impact.

HSDF applied its expertise in health economics, health financing, and policy analysis to support the costing of priority RMNCAH interventions. The project focused on:

Estimating the costs of delivering reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health interventions.
Analysing resource requirements across different service delivery components.
Generating evidence to support budgeting and investment planning.
Informing policy discussions on sustainable financing for RMNCAH programmes.
Supporting decision-makers with data for priority-setting and resource allocation.
Strengthening the evidence base for maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health investments.

By providing robust costing evidence, the project helped strengthen understanding of what it takes to deliver essential RMNCAH services effectively and sustainably. The findings supported more informed conversations around health financing, programme design, and resource mobilisation.

The initiative reinforced the importance of evidence-based planning and demonstrated how economic analysis can support better decisions for improving the health and wellbeing of women, children, and adolescents.