Today's Edition
GENEVA (ALETIHAD)
The World Health Organization (WHO) celebrates on April 7, 2025, launching a year-long maternal and newborn health campaign. The campaign, titled "Healthy Beginnings, Hopeful Futures," urges governments and the health community to ramp up efforts to end preventable maternal and newborn deaths and to prioritise women’s longer-term health and well-being.
The WHO and its partners are set to share helpful information to support healthy pregnancies, births, and postnatal health.
The WHO stated that the task is critical. Tragically, based on currently published estimates, close to 300,000 women lose their lives due to pregnancy or childbirth each year. At the same time, over two million babies die in their first month of life and around two million more are stillborn. That’s roughly one preventable death every seven seconds.
The recent WHO statistics, which are based on current trends, show that four out of five countries are off track to meet targets for improving maternal survival by 2030. One in three will fail to meet targets for reducing newborn deaths.
Listening to Women
The organization advises that women and families everywhere need high-quality care that supports them physically and emotionally before, during and after birth.
The WHO emphasises that health systems must evolve to manage the many health issues that impact maternal and newborn health. These not only include direct obstetric complications but also mental health conditions, noncommunicable diseases and family planning.
