This collection of resources provides easy access to global best practice standards and guidelines on maternal and child health; the prevention, management and control of HIV; disease surveillance; and emergency response, focused on infection prevention and control and Ebola response. Click on each tab to explore.
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This 2018 joint statement presents the 2018 definition of skilled health personnel providing care during childbirth (also widely known as a “skilled birth attendants” or SBAs) as competent maternal and newborn health (MNH) professionals educated, trained, and regulated to national and international standards. They are competent to: (i) provide and promote evidence-based, human-rights based, quality, socioculturally sensitive and dignified care to women and newborns; (ii) facilitate physiological processes during labour and delivery to ensure a clean and positive childbirth experience; and (iii) identify and manage or refer women and/or newborns with complications.
This up-to-date, comprehensive and consolidated guideline on essential intrapartum care brings together new and existing WHO recommendations that, when delivered as a package, will ensure good-quality and evidence-based care irrespective of the setting or level of health care. The recommendations presented in this guideline are neither country nor region specific and acknowledge the variations that exist globally as to the level of available health services within and between countries. The guideline highlights the importance of woman-centred care to optimize the experience of labor and childbirth for women and their babies through a holistic, human rights-based approach.
This guideline provides global, evidence-informed recommendations on protection, promotion and support of optimal breastfeeding in facilities providing maternity and newborn services, as a public health intervention. The document presents the key recommendations, a summary of the supporting evidence and a description of the considerations that contributed to the deliberations and consensus decision-making.
While most pregnancies and births are uneventful, all pregnancies are at risk. Around 15% of all pregnant women will develop a potentially life-threatening complication that calls for skilled care, and some will require a major obstetrical intervention to survive.
This manual is written for midwives and doctors at the district hospital who are responsible for the care of women with complications of pregnancy, childbirth, or the immediate postpartum period, including immediate problems of the newborn.
This publication on WHO recommendations related to child health is one of four in a series; the others relate to newborn, maternal and adolescent health. The objective of this document is to make available WHO recommendations on child health in one easy-to-access document for WHO staff, policy-makers, programme managers, and health professionals. The compilation can also help better define gaps to prioritize guideline updates.
This document is meant to respond to the questions:
(1) What health interventions should the child receive and when should s/he receive it?
(2) What health behaviors should a mother/caregiver practice (or not practice)?
This publication on WHO recommendations related to newborn health is one of four in a series; the others relate to maternal, child and adolescent health. The objective of this document is to make available WHO recommendations on newborn health in one easy-to-access document for WHO staff, policy-makers, programme managers, and health professionals. The compilation can also help better define gaps to prioritize guideline updates.
This document is meant to respond to the questions:
(1) What health interventions should be the newborn and young infants < 2 months of age receive and when should s/he receive?
(2) What health behaviors should a mother/caregiver practice (or not practice)?
This publication on WHO recommendations related to maternal health is one of four in a series; the others relate to newborn, child and adolescent health. The objective of this document is to make available WHO recommendations on maternal health in one easy-to-access document for WHO staff, policy-makers, programme managers, and health professionals. The compilation can also help better define gaps to prioritize guideline updates.
This document is meant to respond to the questions:
(1) What health interventions should be delivered during pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period?
(2) What health behaviors should the women practice (or not practice) during these periods to care for herself and her baby?