The Special Initiative on Maternal and Newborn Health in Crisis
An initiative of the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator. Hosted by the United Nations Foundation.
Photo by Ajin K S on Unsplash
Globally, 58% of maternal deaths, 39% of newborn deaths, and 41% of stillbirths occur in countries with UN Humanitarian Appeals*, despite representing less than 13% of the global population. In the face of 2025-2026 unprecedented health and humanitarian budget cuts, this highly disproportionate rate is expected to rise – driven by the rise in protracted crises and, increasingly, by climate change – and represents a “hold-out” in global progress to end preventable maternal and newborn mortality.
In recognition of this, the UN’s Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher - with the support of the Gates Foundation - has launched The Special Initiative on Maternal and Newborn Health in Crisis, a catalytic initiative that brings together humanitarian, development, and climate partners to accelerate advocacy, increase joint planning, and drive resources to address this stark reality.
The Special Initiative was launched in November 2025 and is guided by Special Advisor, HRH Princess Sarah Zeid, a long-time advocate for maternal, newborn, and child health in all settings.
*AlignMNH, MNH in Humanitarian Settings Dashboard
Who We Are
Credit: Aditya Romansa, Unsplash.
Accelerating advocacy for mothers and babies in crises
The Special Initiative is working with partners at key global engagements to shine a light on the most vulnerable in crises - mothers and babies - with the goal of driving action and resources towards this population. Since the inception of the Special Initiative, this platform has driven advocacy at the annual Médecins Sans Frontièrs Paediatric Days in Amman; the inaugural Every Pregnancy Iftar in London; Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Week in Geneva; the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York; and the International Maternal and Newborn Health Conference in Nairobi.
Credit: Saeed Bashar, 12 March 2026.
Convening stakeholders to shortlist proven and emerging solutions
The Special Initiative is engaged in extensive consultations, convening practitioners, humanitarians, development partners, midwives, funders, innovators, policymakers, community-based health workers, climate experts, international organizations, I/NGOs, and the private sector to survey the landscape in the face of the ongoing ‘Humanitarian Reset’ - a challenging process to recalibrate relief in light of past inefficiencies and the extraordinary funding shortfall - and to shortlist and assess both proven and emerging levers to address maternal and newborn mortality in humanitarian and fragile settings.
Credit: Tanya Birkbeck/WFP, 27 April 2026.
Country-level collaboration
The Special Advisor is undertaking in-country missions to work alongside Humanitarian Coordinators, UN Country Teams and national stakeholders to center mothers and babies in humanitarian responses and to offer guidance and support. The Special Initiative works across sectors to connect partners in-country and at the global level to enhance collaboration - particularly with development and humanitarian practitioners - to best serve this target population.
Insights and Commentary
Princess Sarah Zeid: Three initiatives to save children in war. الأميرة سارة زيد: ثلاث مبادرات لإنقاذ الأطفال بمناطق الحرب. Al Jazeera Arabic, Sarah Zeid, 12 December 2025.
Healing the hidden wounds of children in war. The Daily Sabah, Sarah Zeid, 06 January 2026.
We can prevent maternal and newborn deaths - but the political will and funding is still missing. Save the Children International, Inger Ashing, 19 March 2026.
Haiti gets royal visit: Jordan princess shines light on hunger hotspot. Miami Herald, Jacqueline Charles, 28 April 2026.
‘An awful lot of abandoned babies’: Jordanian Princess Zeid on Haiti’s crisis. Miami Herald, Jacqueline Charles,16 May 2026.
Princess Sarah: Reflections from the Field (Coming Soon!)
Meet the Special Advisor
HRH Princess Sarah Zeid is a longtime advocate for women’s, newborn, child and adolescent health, nutrition and wellbeing in all settings. As Special Advisor to the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator on Maternal and Newborn Health in Crisis, Princess Sarah champions efforts to reduce preventable maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity in fragile and humanitarian settings.
She previously served as Special Advisor to the World Food Programme (WFP) on Maternal & Child Health and Nutrition, as UNHCR Patron for Maternal & Newborn Health (2018-2024), and Convener of the Roadmap to Accelerate Progress for Every Newborn in Humanitarian Settings 2020-2025, where she supported efforts to reduce maternal, child and newborn mortality and morbidity, and championed the health, wellbeing, empowerment and contribution of girls and women in fragile and humanitarian settings. Princess Sarah led Every Woman Every Child Everywhere, an unprecedented global multi-stakeholder movement to integrate humanitarian and fragile settings in the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health, a roadmap adopted in 2016 by the World Health Assembly to end preventable deaths of women, children and adolescents by 2030.
Princess Sarah is a member of the Executive Board of The New Humanitarian, the Johns Hopkins University Center for Humanitarian Health Advisory Committee, and an Ambassador for Made by Dyslexia. She holds a BA in International Relations from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, and an MSc in Development Studies and an honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.