Urgent collective action is needed to reach the SDG Targets. Learn more about the state of the evidence on maternal newborn health globally and the road ahead to 2030. Check out the report prepared by Countdown to 2030 for more information on mortality, coverage, and policies.
Issue pages highlight key information and resources related to critical MNH topics. We are just getting started. We have prioritized topics related to the AlignMNH Opening Forum, but be sure to check back frequently for additional content and issues.
The perinatal period is associated with elevated risk of mental disorders and is a critical time to identify and address maternal mental health concerns. Discover resources related to the prevalence of common perinatal mental disorders (CMPDs), implementation approaches, strategies for integration into healthcare services, country experiences, and advocacy materials for women and families coping with mental health conditions.
When women and newborns receive high quality care during pregnancy, at the time of birth, and in the early postnatal period, women stay healthy and babies get the best start in life. Supporting integrated packages of essential, proven interventions for women and newborns – delivered at a time and place that is feasible and acceptable – saves lives.
Want to learn more about measurement for maternal and newborn health? We have pulled together an overview of the latest information and resources about global maternal and newborn health targets, global MNH metrics Technical Advisory and Working Groups, and MNH metrics resources.
Newborns who are born too early, too small, or who become sick in the first few weeks of life, are extremely vulnerable to long-term disability or death. Learn more and find recommendations on interventions to improve preterm birth outcomes, standards for caring for small and sick newborns, as well as the latest evidence and reflections on the use of antenatal corticosteroids for accelerating fetal lung maturation for women at risk of preterm birth in different settings.
COVID-19 resulted in service interruptions, lockdowns, and economic hardship that exacerbated the existing challenges that many families face in accessing quality, timely MNH care. Learn more and find resources about essential MNH care in the COVID-19 context, including resources on emerging experience and response, targets and measurement for COVID-19, job aids, and guidance for COVID-19 across the continuum of care.
We invite you to join us as we build a dynamic knowledge-sharing platform to review progress, discuss and debate approaches, understand successes and determine how to address priority challenges and bottlenecks. We know that we have much to learn from one another and that collectively we can build a better understanding of what works and how we can hasten progress. Learn more.
New Guidance: WHO Consolidated Guidance on Self-Care Interventions for Health
The purpose of the WHO consolidated guideline on self-care interventions for health is to provide evidence-based guidance to support individuals, communities and countries with quality health services and self-care interventions based on primary healthcare strategies, with people-centeredness at the core. Read AlignMNH’s new synthesis brief outlining the newest guidance that brings together new and existing WHO recommendations, good-practice statements and key considerations on self-care interventions for health. Read our new synthesis brief. The synthesis brief includes select key messages from the consolidated guidance related to the provision of maternal and newborn health (MNH) care, over-the counter pharmacy provision of pregnancy self-tests, as well as the full individual recommendations related to improving antenatal, intrapartum, and postpartum care.
Why is care of low birthweight infants crucial?
Every year, approximately 20 million babies—15% of all births—are born with low birthweight (LBW). Over 70% of all newborn deaths occur in this vulnerable group. Interventions to reduce mortality in LBW infants are crucial if countries are to attain the Sustainable Development Goal of reducing neonatal mortality to less than 12 per 1,000 live births by 2030.
Direct maternal infections around the time of childbirth account for about one tenth of the global burden of maternal death. Women who develop peripartum infections are also prone to severe morbidity, long-term disabilities such as chronic pelvic pain, fallopian tube blockage and secondary infertility. Read our new synthesis brief outlining the four updated recommendations that supersede the previous 2015 Guideline, WHO recommendations for prevention and treatment of maternal peripartum infection.
New Blog: Insights from Annes Mboya, nurse-midwife at Kakuma Refugee Camp in observance of World Refugee Day. The Inter-Agency Working Group on Reproductive Health in Crisis Newborn Initiative, AlignMNH Blog.
Lancet Global Health, Editorial.
Gagan Gupta, AlignMNH Blog.
Femi Oladapo, AlignMNH Blog.