Maternal Health Thematic Fund: Annual Report 2009

We, as, a global community have committed to improving maternal health. More concretely, as mapped out in Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5, we have agreed to reduce, by 2015, the global maternal mortality ratio by three quarters, using 1990 as a baseline. To this overall goal another target was added in 2007 — that of ensuring universal access to reproductive health by 2015. To back up our commitment to maternal health, two UNFPA initiatives — the Global Programme on Reproductive Health Commodity Security and the Maternal Health Thematic Fund — represent a focused effort to accelerate progress towards MDG 5 in the 60 countries that have the highest maternal mortality and are furthest from achieving universal access to reproductive health. Toward this end, UNFPA complements its core resources where the need is greatest to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted and every birth is safe.