Under-resourced sexual and reproductive health services have been reaching women and girls around the world through a range of key initiatives supported by a partnership between UNFPA and Takeda Pharmaceuticals formalized in 2020. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the partnership supported enhanced screening capacity as well as the emergency transport of women with obstetric and newborn health complications. It also helped provide essential supplies and personal protective equipment to front-line health workers.

In addition, the ongoing joint project “2 Hours to Life” has the potential to save the lives of some 1 million pregnant women and newborns in Benin, Côte D’Ivoire and Togo by ensuring access in under two hours to crucial maternal and newborn services for 90 per cent of pregnant women. The project also supports innovative solutions to help provide quality emergency obstetric and newborn care in remote locations, including telemedicine, drones for last-mile service delivery and advanced mobile and GPS technologies.

A further project of the partnership, “Women at the Centre,” provides support to survivors of gender-based violence through quality case management services in Azerbaijan, El Salvador, Indonesia, Madagascar and Zimbabwe. With a goal of training more than 40,000 case workers, the programme is investing in capacity building and professionalization of the social-services workforce, ensuring that front-line gender-based violence responders are equipped to provide immediate skilled support for all women and girls, including the most marginalized. In addition to enabling increased quality and coverage of case management, the programme supports community outreach to foster trust and mitigate risks.

Updated 4 June 2025