117 access to essential health services. Within a year of its launch, UCS covered 75 per cent of the Thai population, including 18 million previously uninsured people.118 in rwanda, the national health insurance programme, Mutuelle de Santé, covers about 90 per cent of the population and provides free coverage for the very poor. out-of-pocket spending fell from 28 per cent to 12 per cent of total 119 health expenditures in the programme’s first decade. and Cambodia’s health equity funds have played a critical role in strengthening both the reach and the equity of the health system in that country (see Box 1.4). Power in partnerships Many of the interventions needed for more children to enjoy good health are well known. The challenge is to implement them at scale so that there are enough community health workers, nurses and doctors to link the most disadvantaged people to high-quality services. failure to mobilize the necessary resources will act as a brake on progress in child survival and health. The challenge is great, but concrete and practical strategies such as the every newborn action plan offer a road map for equitable policy and financing. Movements such as every Woman every Child and a Promise renewed (aPr) provide a platform for action, bringing together governments, the private sector, international agencies and campaigners. The aPr movement was launched in June 2012, when the Governments of ethiopia, india and the United States, in collaboration with UniCef, convened the Child Survival Call to action in Washington, d.C. answering the call, 178 governments – as well as hundreds of civil society, private sector and faith-based organizations – signed a pledge under the aPr banner vowing to do everything possible to stop women and children from dying of causes that are easily preventable. Since then, more than 30 countries have deepened their commitments by launching sharpened national strategies for maternal, newborn and child survival based on aPr’s core principles: building political commitment, strengthening accountability and mobilizing societies and communities. Current multilateral partnerships also provide a strong foundation for broadening and deepening cooperation to support national strategies on child and maternal health. one example comes from the GaVi alliance. in collaboration with global companies involved in pharmaceutical development and supply-chain management, and represented in the international federation of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers, the alliance has developed a three-year partnership to immunize hard-to-reach children in 73 countries. Pharmaceutical companies themselves have an important role in developing affordable products to prevent and treat 120 killer diseases, including rotavirus, pneumonia and sepsis. effective implementation of the strategies outlined in this chapter will require stepped-up coordination and more robust leadership, both nationally and globally. national strategies to achieve universal health coverage and equitable, quality care for children and their mothers should set clear priorities, specifically, to reach the most disadvantaged groups with life-saving interventions. These strategies will have to include providing trained staff with incentives to work in hard-to-reach areas. The STaTe of The World’S Children 2016 37