Maternal Health Thematic Fund: Annual Report 2013

Launched in 2008 to accelerate progress towards Millennium Development Goal 5 (MDG5), the Maternal Health Thematic Fund (MHTF) focuses on countries with high maternal mortality by providing tar- geted, additional support to reduce preventable maternal deaths and morbidities .

The Fund is catalytic in approach, aligning with country- led processes to address health system bottlenecks; pro- mote innovation; strengthen partnerships and uniquely focus on evidence-based interventions aimed at advancing the reproductive health agenda with proven results at the country level . The MHTF has now been operating for five years, having concluded its first phase in 2013, and it is currently supporting interventions in 43 countries in five programmatic areas: emergency obstetric and new- born care, the Midwifery Programme, the Campaign to End Fistula, maternal death surveillance and response and advocacy and demand-creation for maternal and newborn health — all discussed in this report .

The MHTF’s business plan identified maternal death and disability as an entry point for programmes to ad- vance universal access to sexual and reproductive health . With the Global Programme to Enhance Reproductive Health Commodity Security (GPRHCS) — the other UNFPA thematic fund — the MHTF complements UNFPA core resources, including the H4+ joint pro- gramme, and is used to both implement and scale up effective interventions, while identifying and strength- ening transformative actions to promote maternal and newborn health and to improve women’s health through- out the life course .