A Comment in The Lancet concludes: 'The WHO guidance includes important recommendations for maternal and newborn health, but overlooks support and intervention beyond 6 weeks after birth and the integration of services for all women and newborn babies, without which reductions in mortality and morbidity are unlikely to be achieved.'
The Comment refers to the recent publication of WHO Recommendations on Maternal and Newborn Care for a Positive Postnatal Experience
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240045989
Citation and comment from me below:
CITATION: New global WHO postnatal guidance is welcome but misses the long-term perspective
Debra Bick et al. The Lancet, Comment| volume 399, issue 10335, p1578-1580, april 23, 2022
Published: April 01, 2022 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22)00616-X
COMMENT (NPW): The authors of the guideline recognise a “positive postnatal experience” as 'a significant end point for all women giving birth and their newborns, laying the platform for improved short- and long-term health and well-being'. It will be interesting to read the response from the WHO Guideline Development Group, which will likely emerge in the coming weeks. Such critiques of WHO guidelines raise a wider question about process. If indeed the critiques are valid (at least in part) then wouldn't it have been preferable to receive them before publication of the guideline, through open peer review of an earlier draft?
Best wishes, Neil
Neil Pakenham-Walsh, Global Coordinator HIFA, www.hifa.org neil@hifa.org
Working in official relations with WHO
