In 2008, UNFPA launched the Maternal Health Thematic Fund to accelerate progress towards making safe motherhood a reality in some of the poorest countries in the world. It is one response to the fact that improving maternal health is the Millennium Development Goal target lagging farthest behind.
Experience from countries such as Egypt, Guatemala and Sri Lanka shows that maternal mortality in developing countries can be reduced rapidly if adequate political and financial support is in place and effective approaches employed. The thematic fund aims to jump-start progress in countries where far too many women continue to die from preventable complications of pregnancy.
Experience from countries such as Egypt, Guatemala and Sri Lanka shows that maternal mortality in developing countries can be reduced rapidly if adequate political and financial support is in place and effective approaches employed. The thematic fund aims to jump-start progress in countries where far too many women continue to die from preventable complications of pregnancy.
 |
| Photo: UNFPA |
Support from the Maternal Health Thematic Fund is provided to national governments in close coordination with UNFPA’s Global Programme on Reproductive Health Commodity Security. This fosters a strengthened and streamlined approach towards accelerating progress towards MDG5 and ensuring that every pregnancy is wanted and every birth safe.
The Maternal Health Thematic Fund focuses on high-priority countries that have maternal mortality ratios of over 300 deaths per 100,000 live births. The approach revolves around strengthening national health systems, rather than creating parallel structures, and in helping governments overcome obstacles that prevent their own maternal health plans from succeeding.
The Maternal Health Thematic Fund focuses on high-priority countries that have maternal mortality ratios of over 300 deaths per 100,000 live births. The approach revolves around strengthening national health systems, rather than creating parallel structures, and in helping governments overcome obstacles that prevent their own maternal health plans from succeeding.
Key components of the Maternal Health Thematic Fund's work include supporting programmes that build up human resources for maternal health and needs assessments that provide countries with up-to-date data in the area of obstetric care.
Data show that fewer than two thirds of women in developing countries receive assistance from a skilled health worker when giving birth. The State of the World’s Midwifery Report found that at least 112,000 health workers with midwifery skills are missing from 38 countries with the highest burden of maternal death. As long as women continue to give birth without skilled care, the number of women dying in childbirth will remain stagnant. UNFPA has partnered with the International Confederation of Midwives to address this critical gap. The Midwifery Program is now operational in some 30 Maternal Health Thematic Fund supported countries, with a focus on improving and expanding midwifery training and strengthening national midwifery associations.