A pregnant ./Photo; Courtesy
Unitaid has announced a US$52 million investment to expand access to lifesaving maternal healthcare for pregnant women across Africa, in a move aimed at reducing preventable deaths linked to pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia and anemia.
The initiative places Africa at the centre of implementation, with programmes set to roll out in Kenya, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal, Tanzania, Nigeria, and South Africa, where gaps in antenatal care, diagnostics, and timely treatment continue to contribute significantly to maternal and newborn deaths.
While the investment forms part of a broader global maternal health effort targeting low- and middle-income countries, its immediate focus reflects Africa’s disproportionate burden of maternal mortality and the urgent need to strengthen health systems that support women during pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care.
Expanding access to essential pregnancy care tools
The funding will support the introduction and scale-up of more than ten proven and emerging maternal health interventions designed to improve early detection, prevention, and treatment of complications during pregnancy.
These include magnesium sulfate for severe preeclampsia, low-dose aspirin, blood pressure monitoring devices, anemia diagnostics, and intravenous iron therapy.
Magnesium sulfate, although costing less than one US dollar per dose, remains the gold-standard treatment for preventing seizures associated with severe preeclampsia.
When administered correctly and in time, it can reduce the risk of life-threatening complications by more than half, making it one of the most effective and affordable maternal health interventions available.
However, access remains uneven across many health systems due to weak supply chains, late diagnosis, limited diagnostic capacity, and gaps in training among healthcare workers.
These systemic challenges continue to limit the ability of health facilities to deliver timely and consistent maternal care, particularly in rural and underserved communities.
The initiative aims to close these gaps by ensuring that essential tools are not only available but fully integrated into routine antenatal care services, strengthening early detection and improving treatment outcomes for pregnant women.
Preventable conditions continue to drive maternal deaths
Preeclampsia, a dangerous hypertensive disorder that develops during pregnancy, remains one of the leading causes of maternal and newborn deaths globally.
It contributes to tens of thousands of maternal deaths each year and is linked to hundreds of thousands of newborn deaths, often due to premature birth and complications from uncontrolled high blood pressure.
Anemia, commonly caused by iron deficiency, affects nearly 40 percent of pregnant women worldwide.
It increases the risk of complications such as postpartum hemorrhage, preterm birth, low birth weight, and hypertensive disorders, including preeclampsia, further compounding risks during pregnancy and delivery.
“No woman should die giving life from complications we know how to prevent and treat,” said Philippe Duneton. “Lifesaving medicines and diagnostics exist, yet too many women are unable to access them because of gaps in health systems.”
He added that accelerating access to both proven tools and innovations is essential to ensuring that women everywhere benefit from advances in maternal health and that preventable deaths are significantly reduced.
Partnerships to strengthen health systems and delivery
Implementation of the initiative will be led through partnerships with Amref Health Africa and the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), bringing together expertise in health systems strengthening, supply chains, market access, and implementation research.
CHAI will focus on ensuring that maternal health commodities are developed, affordable, and reliably supplied to health facilities, addressing long-standing barriers that prevent consistent availability of essential medicines and diagnostics.
“Getting the right product to the right woman at the right time is harder than it sounds, and that’s exactly the problem SUPREME is designed to solve,” said Marie Chantale Lepine.
“We are working with partners to ensure high-quality diagnostics and treatments for preeclampsia and anemia are available equitably and sustainably.”
Amref will lead country-level implementation, working closely with ministries of health, frontline health workers, and communities to integrate these tools into antenatal care systems and strengthen service delivery models across participating countries.
“Too many women in Africa are still dying from pregnancy complications we already know how to prevent and treat,” said Githinji Gitahi.
“The medicines and diagnostics exist, but the real challenge is ensuring they reach women at the right time and in the right place.”
He emphasized that the initiative will support governments in embedding these interventions into stronger, more resilient maternal health systems capable of delivering consistent, high-quality care.
Building sustainable maternal health systems across Africa
Beyond introducing new tools, the SUPREME initiative is designed to address three persistent barriers in maternal healthcare: availability, affordability, and accessibility.
By tackling these simultaneously, the programme seeks to ensure long-term improvements rather than short-term gains.
A key component of the initiative is implementation research and evidence generation, which will help guide policy decisions, improve service delivery models, and support scale-up across participating countries.
This evidence-based approach is expected to strengthen national maternal health strategies and improve outcomes over time.
The programme builds on Unitaid’s wider portfolio, addressing leading causes of maternal and newborn deaths, including postpartum hemorrhage and mother-to-child transmission of diseases such as HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B.
With additional support from partners including the Gates Foundation, the initiative reflects a growing global recognition that reducing maternal mortality requires not only medical innovations, but also stronger systems that ensure equitable access to care.
By anchoring implementation in African health systems and prioritizing delivery at the primary care level, the initiative aims to ensure that lifesaving maternal health tools reach women when they are needed most, ultimately contributing to safer pregnancies and healthier newborns across the continent.
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