More than half a million women die each year as a result of pregnancy-related complications. This brochure describes UNFPA's three-part strategy to prevent this tragic loss and some of the progress that is occurring in countries around the world. Improving maternal health is one of the eight internationally agreed on Millennium Development Goals and a top priority for UNFPA.

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This publication gives an overview of the situation of maternal and newborn health in the East and South East Asia region, with a focus on progress and the interventions needed to save women's and newborn's lives. There is now a clear evidence base of the priority interventions in maternal and newborn health which need to be in place to avert maternal and neonatal mortality in countries with limited resources.

In addition to providing a list of essential reproductive health supplies, this guidebook outlines the steps necessary for including reproductive health medicines on country-level lists of essential medicines. It also highlights the consequences of poor reproductive health and the importance of devoting resources to its betterment and reviews the concept of essential medicines lists and their significance.

 

This report documents experiences and lessons related to training and scaling-up the midwifery workforce. These lessons were shared at the First International Forum on Midwifery in the Community (Tunisia, 2006).