Updates

UNFPA launches 'Start With Her': A bold strategy to transform reproductive, maternal and newborn health and well-being

29 Jan 2025

UNFPA midwife Lucille Denembaye holds an 11-day-old boy she delivered in a camp for displaced people in the Toukra district of N’Djamena in Chad. © UNFPA Chad/Karel Prinsloo
UNFPA midwife Lucille Denembaye holds an 11-day-old boy she delivered in a camp for displaced people in the Toukra district of N’Djamena in Chad. © UNFPA Chad/Karel Prinsloo

UNITED NATIONS, New York – “Maternal mortality is one of the most avoidable injustices,” said UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem at the launch of Start with Her, UNFPA’s new strategy for reproductive, maternal and newborn health and well-being, on 29 January. “Childbirth should be a celebration of the incredible promise that each and every human being pretends. Yet for far too many women, the journey to motherhood is dangerous, and can even be deadly.”

Dr. Kanem was joined by representatives from the Governments of Germany and Sweden at UNFPA Headquarters in New York, in conjunction with the Executive Board sessions to unveil the transformative strategy, which aims to address persistent maternal health challenges and ensure every woman can give birth safely, with autonomy and dignity. 

Why now? A critical juncture for reproductive, maternal and newborn health

Despite significant progress—a 34 per cent reduction in maternal mortality rates since 2000—advancements have stalled since 2016, and in some regions, maternal and newborn mortality rates have even increased. Every two minutes, a woman dies from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Maternal health is further strained by fragile and overburdened health systems, humanitarian crises, and climate change. 

Despite the evidence that investing in maternal health yields enormous benefits – every dollar spent on family planning and maternal health generates a $8.4 return – funding falls drastically short. While an estimated US$116 billion is required to end preventable maternal deaths between 2020 and 2030, only $12 billion is expected to be provided by donors, and only 12 per cent of low- and middle- income countries are fully funding their maternal and newborn health plans.

“We are failing women at one of the most vulnerable and transformative periods of their lives,” said Dr. Kanem. “And this failure is deeply disproportionate. Women in sub-Saharan Africa are 130 times more likely to die from pregnancy complications than a woman in Europe or North America,” she added.

Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), speaks at the START WITH HER: Accelerating Action to End Preventable Maternal and Newborn Deaths
Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), speaks at the START WITH HER: Accelerating Action to End Preventable Maternal and Newborn Deaths © UNFPA/Yuntong Man

‘Start with Her’: A comprehensive approach

To face these challenges, Start with Her redefines the approach to maternal health by integrating reproductive, maternal, and newborn health and well-being in a broader framework of sexual and reproductive health and rights. The strategy emphasizes the need for quality healthcare systems, respectful care, midwifery support, and equitable access to essential medicines and equipment, including for training purposes. For the first time the focus is on well-being, with the aim not just to prevent deaths but to ensure women can thrive physically, mentally and socially during and after childbirth.

The strategy is structured around four pillars: 

1. COMMIT to finance and policy action;  

2. DELIVER quality, integrated sexual and reproductive health services at scale;

3. EMPOWER women and communities to to ensure agency over their reproductive choices; and 

4. LEVERAGE data and research for impact and accountability.

UNFPA’s Maternal and Newborn Health Fund supports 44 high-priority countries and serves as the key mechanism to operationalize the strategy. Since its launch in 2008, the fund has already supported over 30 million safe deliveries. 

"To our Member States here today, thank you for your commitment to prioritizing reproductive, maternal, and newborn health, setting clear targets in line with the SDGs, committing the resources, and backing that up with accountability systems. It’s only together, with all our partners, that we’re going to be stronger," Dr. Kanem concluded.

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About the Maternal and Newborn Health Fund

The Maternal and Newborn Health Fund is UNFPA’s flagship programme to ensure that every woman, adolescent girl and newborn has equitable and accountable access to quality sexual and reproductive health and rights. This pooled fund, which also integrates UNFPA's Campaign to End Obstetric Fistula, is supported by the governments of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland and Sweden, as well as by Takeda Pharmaceuticals.

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