The start of life: safe pregnancy and childbirth

Making a good system even better

Malaysia already has an excellent public health system and a low maternal mortality ratio at 23.8 per 100,000 live births (2015) thus UNFPA’s focus is on addressing any remaining small gaps. A programme with the Ministry of Health addressed the management of complex pregnancy cases, for example, where the woman has serious illness such as cancer, or a chronic condition such as hypertension. UNFPA provided training to address the sub-optimal care that they were receiving in the public health system, training Ministry of Health staff. In the era of the Sustainable Development Goals, UNFPA continues to advocate for better impact assessment and data generation to improve the rate of maternal mortality further and to document the evidence.