Adara Group makes a Commitment to Action at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) 2023 Meeting to invest a further US$10.6 million (A$16 million) to scale their award-winning AdaraNewborn model across multiple health facilities in Uganda.   

AdaraNewborn is an evidence-based, high-impact model with the power to halve newborn deaths and stillbirths across 10 health facilities in Uganda over the next decade.   

Newborn disorders are the leading cause of death across Africa and in Uganda, according to the Global Burden of Disease. Most African nations, including Uganda, are off-track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for newborn survival – 12 neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births by 2030.   

“We know AdaraNewborn is a gamechanger not only for Uganda, but for low-resource settings globally,” said Adara’s Founder and Chair, Audette Exel AO, who was in New York for the announcement. “We’re proud to make this commitment and showcase that we’re serious about investing to support the achievement of the SDGs.”   

With this investment, Adara aims to reach 500,000 mothers and babies and save close to 7,000 lives by providing newborns and their mothers with support across the entire continuum of care. This includes from pregnancy, to delivery, inpatient newborn care, postnatal care and follow-up at home.  

“Adara has pioneered a model for increasing survival rates for the sickest and smallest newborns to levels in some high-income countries, and we have sustained that for a decade,” said Daniel Kabugo, Adara’s Uganda Country Director. “There are seven years left to achieve the SDGs and most off-track countries cannot meet this goal without reducing the deaths of newborns. That means investing in models like AdaraNewborn at scale.”   

By demonstrating the impact of AdaraNewborn in Uganda, Adara will support other countries to adapt and adopt the model.  

Adara’s work has been acknowledged as best practice by the Ugandan Ministry of Health and has been named an Exemplar in Global Health by Gates Ventures. Adara recently won the Washington Global Health Alliance Organizational Impact Award.    

Adara is seeking an investment of US$30 million to implement the AdaraNewborn programme.  

Founded by President Bill Clinton in 2005, the Clinton Global Initiative is a community of doers representing a broad cross section of society and dedicated to the idea that we can accomplish more together than we can apart. Through CGI’s unique model, more than 9,000 organisations have launched more than 3,900 Commitments to Action—new, specific, and measurable projects and programmes.