A Sustainable Model of Assessing Maternal Health Needs and Improving Quality of Care During and After Pregnancy

Abstract

Complications during pregnancy and childbirth are a leading cause of death, disability and ill-health among women of reproductive age. To achieve further global reductions in maternal mortality and improved maternal health, a more comprehensive and sustainable approach is needed that addresses the continuum of maternity care and provides holistic quality of care in ways that meet women’s health needs. To sustainably improve maternity care, there is a need to identify bottlenecks to assess the status of antenatal and postnatal care; assess maternal morbidity during and after childbirth; conduct quality improvement processes at the healthcare facility level; and emphasize a health systems approach. And there is a need for high-quality implementation research to assess “what works where and how” especially in different settings across LMICs. More evidence is needed to demonstrate how to generate replicable and scale-up sustainable intervention packages and solutions to increase their availability and improve the quality of care for mothers and babies globally. Sharing lessons learned across and between settings and with stakeholders at national and international levels should be used to proactively inform policy and practice to ensure that maternity care is safe, effective, woman-centred, timely, efficient and equitable.