17 December, 2013 — The Ministries of Health of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government, together with WHO, UNICEF, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and other health partners launched Iraq's national acceleration plan for maternal and child health on 17 December 2013.
The 3-year acceleration plan delineates cost-effective interventions to be implemented in nine high-burden governorates of Iraq, in line with commitments expressed in the Dubai Declaration, adopted in January 2013. Iraq has made significant progress towards reduction of maternal mortality and if the same trend continues it will be able to achieve the targets set for Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 by 2015. However, the country will need to exert more intensive efforts in order to make a significant reduction in under-5 mortality and achieve the targets set for MDG 4.