Abstract
Based on an ethnography of the international Safe Motherhood Initiative (SMI), this article charts the rise of evidence-based advocacy (EBA), a term global-level maternal health advocates have used to indicate the use of scientific evidence to bolster the SMI's authority in the global health arena. EBA represents a shift in the SMI's priorities and tactics over the past two decades, from a call to promote poor women's health on the grounds of feminism and social justice (entailing broad-scale action) to the enumeration of much more narrowly defined practices to avert maternal deaths whose outcomes and cost effectiveness can be measured and evaluated. Though linked to the growth of an audit- and business-oriented ethos, we draw from anthropological theory of global forms to argue that EBA—or “playing the numbers game”—profoundly affects nearly every facet of evidence production, bringing about ambivalent reactions and a contested technocratic narrowing of the SMI's policy agenda.
Highlights
In October 2007, nearly 2000 delegates from 115 countries gathered in London at the high-profile Women Deliver Conference to bring “new ammunition to the case for investing in maternal and newborn health” (Women Deliver 2007)
Safe motherhood champions, including the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director General Halfdan Mahler, claimed that reducing maternal mortality would demand not technical magical bullets, but comprehensive, multi-sectoral approaches to tackling the social determinants of maternal mortality, including women’s low social status (Mahler 1987)
NGO-based advocacy specialists are often aided by colleagues within UN agencies and by academics who have gradually, if reluctantly, embraced an advocacy role
Summary
In October 2007, nearly 2000 delegates from 115 countries gathered in London at the high-profile Women Deliver Conference to bring “new ammunition to the case for investing in maternal and newborn health” (Women Deliver 2007). Convened on the 20th anniversary of the 1987 UN-sponsored conference that launched the international Safe Motherhood Initiative (SMI) in Nairobi, Kenya (Starrs 1987), Women Deliver sought to reinvigorate global agencies’ and donors’ commitment to prioritize maternal health in low-income countries. Safe motherhood champions, including the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Director General Halfdan Mahler, claimed that reducing maternal mortality would demand not technical magical bullets, but comprehensive, multi-sectoral approaches to tackling the social determinants of maternal mortality, including women’s low social status (Mahler 1987) By contrast, those spearheading Women Deliver 20 years later advanced their claims through what conference organizers referred to as “evidence-based advocacy.”. We end the article by showing that it is in response to a growing sense of uneasiness with such technocratic narrowing that some experts are making new and creative uses of evidence in their efforts to reintroduce justice, equity, and rights into maternal health policy debates
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
