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The authors commend a recent study by Leonard Mndala and colleagues published in The Lancet Global Health “Comparison of maternal and neonatal outcomes of COVID-19 before and after SARS-CoV-2 omicron emergence in maternity facilities in Malawi (MATSurvey): data from a national maternal surveillance platform.” They stress that data on the burden of COVID-19 on maternal and perinatal outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa and other areas in LMICs are under-represented in the medical literature; higher income settings are more likely to have structured surveillance systems on health outcomes which allow for a fast response and uptake of data to support policymakers. They write, “To implement measures to avoid preventable mortality in under-resourced settings, we need the data and we need action.”

The Q&As are intended to provide answers to health providers and the public on COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy. Q&As related to COVID-19 vaccines and breastfeeding can be found at the following link: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: COVID-19 vaccines and breastfeeding based on WHO interim recommendations.

These questions and answers (Q&As) are based on the most recent interim recommendations from the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) for COVID-19 vaccines that have been approved by WHO under Emergency Use Listing (EUL)a as of 15 February 2022.

Since May 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO), through its headquarters, regional and country office teams, has supported 19 countries in five WHO Regions to raise the profile of and commitment to maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and ageing (MNCAAH) through an Initiative on mitigating the indirect impacts of COVID-19 on MNCAAH services. The goal was to ensure that during the response to COVID-19, actions would be taken to mitigate indirect effects on MNCAAH due to disruptions to service provision and use.

This report covers Phase I of the Initiative, from May 2020 to February 2021. Section A of the report presents a synthesis of information across the 19 countries, including lessons learned. Section B includes more detailed individual country information, drawn directly from country Thematic Working Group (TWG) and national consultant reports, country health information management system (HMIS) data, research publications and surveys that describe the impact of COVID-19 on MNCAAH services.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO has engaged with countries to ensure the continuity of essential health services. Through a special initiative, the Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health and Ageing has supported 19 countries: Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, India, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Romania, South Africa, Sudan, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Uganda and Yemen in their efforts to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on essential MNCH services.

This global event shared and discussed countries’ experiences and lessons learned during the implementation, including establishing structures and systems to coordinate the response and ensure continuity of services,  proactive use of data to inform decision-making, adaptation of service delivery and innovation.

This event offered health policymakers, health systems, programme managers, emergency officers, MNCH programme implementers, health professionals, researchers, development and funding partners with an opportunity to interact with Ministries of Health and implementers from the 19 countries and discuss strategies to strengthen the health systems able to rapidly respond and build back better.

It is unclear whether the suggested link between COVID-19 during pregnancy and preeclampsia is an independent association or if these are caused by common risk factors.

This study aimed to quantify any independent association between COVID-19 during pregnancy and preeclampsia and to determine the effect of these variables on maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality.

Over one year into COVID-19 pandemic, efforts are still needed to support the health care and related needs of the world’s children and their families. Disruption of essential services across MNCH has impacted millions of lives around the world. However, maintaining quality essential care is critical. To facilitate recovery efforts in countries, UNICEF in collaboration with International Pediatric Association (IPA) and USAID developed a technical brief “DO NO HARM – Maternal, Newborn and Infant Care during COVID-19”. The brief summarizes current evidence and guidance for maintaining safe and effective care across the spectrum of maternal, newborn and infant care and re-emphasizes key infection prevention and control (IPC) principles for safe oxygen delivery.

This video demonstrates how mothers with Covid-19 can breastfeed safely, providing their newborn with the best source of nutrition and protection to survive and thrive. The 60-second film was produced by award-winning Studio Eeksaurus of Mumbai with UK-based Medical Aid Films. It has reached more than 40 million viewers on social media since the launch on 28 May 2020.

This article explores the contextual factors influencing maternal, neonatal, and child health (MNCH) in Bangladesh, Nigeria, and South African amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. It suggests a four-point contextualised mitigation plan to safeguard MNCH care during the pandemic using the observed countries as exemplars for low- and middle income country health system adaptations to maintain the trajectory of progress regarding the Sustainable Development Goals.

The COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting health systems globally. Maternity care disruptions have been surveyed, but not those related to vulnerable small newborns. We aimed to survey reported disruptions to small and sick newborn care worldwide and undertake thematic analysis of healthcare providers’ experiences and proposed mitigation strategies.

Emerging evidence has shown how critical and effective self-care can be. When women, children and adolescents are empowered to adopt healthy self-care practices, they can play a critical role in protecting their own health.

To promote self-care practices around key sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic, PMNCH is partnering with WHO and other UN partner agencies to develop a series of short animated videos to promote healthy behaviours during the pandemic. These videos help translate the latest WHO guidance on self-care practices for women, children adolescents and their families in relation to key issues arising in the context of COVID-19.

Understanding of the lifesaving benefits of KMC for babies born early or small and its continued importance during the COVID-19 pandemic are further strengthened with this new evidence on the benefits of starting the intervention immediately after birth. Among preterm or low birthweight infants, KMC has been shown to reduce infant deaths by as much as 40%, hypothermia by more than 70%, and severe infections by 65%.

The objective of this guide is to help countries monitor and analyse the impact of COVID-19 on essential health services to ultimately inform planning and decision-making. It provides practical recommendations on how to use key performance indicators to analyse changes in access to and delivery of essential health services within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic; how to visualize and interpret these data; and how to use the findings to guide modifications for safe delivery of services and transitioning towards restoration and recovery. The guide focuses on existing indicators and data that are captured in routine reporting systems (sometimes referred to as health management information systems [HMIS]) and how they could be used by national and subnational authorities to understand specific contexts, challenges and bottlenecks.