WHO Recommendations on interventions to improve preterm birth outcomes
Babies born preterm are at risk for significant morbidity and mortality. Interventions provided prior to delivery can improve the health outcomes of preterm infants when preterm birth is inevitable. These interventions are provided to the mother shortly
before or during the birth process with the aim of overcoming immediate and future health challenges of the preterm infant, such as lung immaturity, susceptibility to infection, and neurological complications.
The primary objective of WHO’s recommendations is to provide a foundation for the strategic policy and programme development needed to ensure the sustainable implementation of effective interventions for improving provision and uptake of quality antenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal care for all women and newborns. Health professionals and policy-makers responsible for developing national and local protocols and health policies constitute the main target audience of these recommendations. Women and their families are an additional target audience as users of services related to interventions related to preterm birth. The guidance provided is evidence-informed and covers topics that were selected and prioritized by an international, multidisciplinary group of maternal and newborn health professionals, social scientists, programme implementers and consumers during a scoping meeting held in April 2019.
WHO has previously published the WHO recommendations on interventions to improve preterm birth outcomes in 2015. With a view towards promoting the best known clinical practices in labour and childbirth, and improving maternal outcomes worldwide, WHO will update recommendations related to the use of antenatal corticosteroids and tocolysis.
A Guideline Development Group (GDG) meeting will be held in January/February 2022 (Date to be confirmed) to review the updated evidence base on these recommendations
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