In 2018, UNFPA's Maternal and Newborn Health Thematic Fund (MHTF) moved into Phase III (2018-2022) of its Business Plan based on three cross-cutting principles: improving equity in access, quality of care and accountability, in line with the three pillars of the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health (2016-2030). The MHTF provided catalytic support to 39 countries with high burden of maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity to improve access to and quality of sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health. 

This report highlights key results achieved in 2018 in the four intervention areas of the MHTF: midwifery, emergency obstetric and newborn care, maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response, and obstetric fistula. It describes the contribution of the MHTF to multi-stakeholder global and regional initiatives, such as the UN General Assembly resolution calling for ending obstetric fistula within a decade. It also highlights the innovative approaches developed by the MHTF to improve access to and quality of sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health, such as the use of geographic information systems to maximize the geographic coverage of populations by health services and the development of new indicators for countries to monitor the implementation of maternal deaths notifications and reviews. Finally, the report presents the holistic approach of MHTF to midwifery by adding workforce and health system development, and the midwife’s central role in sexual and reproductive health and rights to the existing three pillars of midwifery education, regulation and association.