Scaling-up successful maternal and newborn health (MNH) innovations to a wider geographical area should improve the survival of more women and babies.

This case study looked at an innovation known as the Emergency Transport Scheme (ETS) that aims to increase demand for MNH services in North-Eastern Nigeria by providing timely and affordable transport to health facilities for mothers and newborn babies in rural communities.

Lessons from this study could help implementing organisations, national and state governments and donors to scale-up successful innovations in the future.

Lessons for implementers

• Plan for scale-up from the beginning of a project
• Align innovations with the local health system
• Ensure innovations respond to the local context
• Develop an effective advocacy strategy
• Generate strong and robust evidence to advocate for scale-up and plan for introducing an innovation at scale
• Work in close partnership with local organisations and government
• Consider issues of sustainability

Lessons for government and donors

• Government are best-placed to coordinate the stakeholders involved in scaling-up an innovation including donors and their implementers
• Sustainability of scaled-up innovations will require government support in the longer term
• Donors should look to government for coordination and align their funding with government health priorities