‘To end preventable maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality, every pregnant woman and newborn need skilled care at birth with evidence-based practices delivered in a humane, supportive environment.’

Please find below extracts of a Commentary in the BJOG International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. The full text is freely available here:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1471-0528.13451/epdf

(Thanks to WHO’s new open access policy http://www.who.int/about/policy/en/ all external articles by WHO staff are published open access)

CITATION: Quality of care for pregnant women and newborns — the WHO vision

Tunçalp, WM Were, C MacLennan, OT Oladapo, AM Gülmezoglu, R Bahl, B Daelmans, M Mathai, L Say, F Kristensen, M Temmerman and F Bustreo

Article first published online: 1 MAY 2015

DOI: 10.1111/1471-0528.13451

‘Moving beyond 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) envisions a world where ‘every pregnant woman and newborn receives quality care throughout pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period.’…’‘Based on the current evidence on burden and impact, the following specific thematic areas have been identified as high priority for this vision:

• Essential childbirth care including labour monitoring and action and essential newborn care at birth and during the first week
• Management of pre-eclampsia, eclampsia and its complications;
• Management of postpartum haemorrhage;
• Management of difficult labour by enabling safe and appropriate use of medical technologies during childbirth;
• Newborn resuscitation;
• Management of preterm labour, birth and appropriate care for preterm and small babies;
• Management of maternal and newborn infections.’

‘In this vision, WHO will use a QoC improvement strategy, an adaptation of the ‘Plan-Do-Study Act’ (PDSA) cycle model based on evidence synthesis, best practice and experience.’

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Best wishes,

Neil

Let’s build a future where people are no longer dying for lack of healthcare knowledge – Join HIFA: www.hifa2015.org