The problem
Maternal health complications remain a major cause of illness and death for women and newborns worldwide. Conditions such as preeclampsia and maternal anemia are among the most significant contributors to maternal and neonatal mortality, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where health systems face persistent barriers to delivering quality antenatal care.
Preeclampsia is a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy that can cause dangerous spikes in blood pressure and life-threatening seizures. Maternal anemia, characterized by low iron levels, affects nearly 40% of pregnant women globally and significantly increases the risk of complications including hemorrhage, preterm birth and low birth weight. Together, these conditions contribute to tens of thousands of maternal deaths and hundreds of thousands of newborn deaths each year.
Many of the tools needed to prevent, diagnose and treat these conditions already exist. Medicines such as magnesium sulfate can prevent seizures associated with severe preeclampsia, while simple diagnostics and treatments can help identify and manage anemia early in pregnancy. Yet access to these interventions remains uneven. Weak supply chains, late diagnosis, limited availability of quality-assured products and insufficient training of health workers continue to prevent many women from receiving timely care.
Our response
Ensuring that lifesaving innovations reach the women who need them requires more than product development alone. It requires deliberate action to make health technologies affordable, available and integrated into health systems so they can reach patients at scale.
The SUPREME initiative (Sustained Uptake of Products for Pre-Eclampsia and Maternal Anemia) tackles supply and demand-side challenges simultaneously through two complementary initiatives – Lifelines and Secure.
SUPREME Secure, led by the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), focuses on improving the availability, affordability and quality of diagnostics, medicines and preventive tools used to manage preeclampsia and maternal anemia.
Working with manufacturers, governments and global health partners, CHAI will help strengthen global and regional markets for maternal health products by supporting product development, addressing regulatory and market barriers and facilitating reliable supply chains. This work will also help ensure that essential diagnostics and treatments are priced affordably and meet the needs of countries implementing maternal health programs.
Through these efforts, the initiative aims to ensure that health facilities have consistent access to the medicines and diagnostics required to detect and manage pregnancy complications.
SUPREME Lifelines, led by Amref Health Africa, focuses on strengthening health systems to support the effective introduction and scale-up of maternal health innovations.
Working closely with ministries of health, health workers and communities, Amref will support the integration of new diagnostics, treatments and preventive tools into antenatal care services. Activities will include strengthening service delivery models, supporting health worker training and conducting implementation research to identify effective approaches for introducing these tools within routine maternal health care.
By embedding innovations within strong antenatal care systems, the project aims to improve early detection and treatment of maternal complications and ensure that lifesaving interventions reach women in a timely manner.
SUPREME Lifelines and SUPREME Secure will focus on Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Senegal and Tanzania, working closely with ministries of health to strengthen antenatal care services and improve access to essential maternal health products. Select activities will also take place in Nigeria and South Africa to support market shaping, evidence generation and regional collaboration.
Unitaid supports the SUPREME initiative with additional funding from the Gates Foundation.
Our partners
