It is unacceptable that so many women and girls continue to die from often preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Also unacceptable however, and much less recognised, is the burden of diverse complications – or maternal morbidity – which women and girls face during and following pregnancy and childbirth, which can have severe implications for well-being throughout life.
Guest edited by two staff members of WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research and HRP, a new special supplement to the International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics (IJGO) has now been published which highlights the work of the WHO Maternal Morbidity Working Group to help re-conceptualize maternal morbidity.
Re-conceptualizing maternal morbidity
A better understanding of the extent of maternal morbidity is needed to help inform change that can safeguard the lives and well-being of girls and women. Such an understanding is key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the vision of the Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s, and Adolescent Health for every woman, everywhere to survive, thrive, and transform.
In recognition of this need, in 2012, WHO convened the Maternal Morbidity Working Group (MMWG). Comprised of medical professionals, researchers, country programme implementers and patient advocates, the group aimed to develop a definition, identification criteria, and to standardize the measurement and evaluation of maternal morbidity. Today, the MMWG publishes a specialized supplement in the International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics detailing how the group re-frame the concept of maternal morbidity.
Lack of standardized measurement for maternal morbidity
At present, there is limited availability of valid, routine, and comparable measurements of maternal morbidity overall. The three main factors which contribute to this are: a want of common definition and identification criteria; an absence of standardized assessment tools, especially at primary health care level; and a lack of common indicators to measure morbidity.
To
address these issues, the MMWG developed the WHO Maternal Morbidity WOICE Tool to help health professionals and researchers better monitor and measure the burden of maternal morbidity. See links below.
Maternal WOICE Tool: antenatal care
Maternal WOICE Tool: postnatal care
If you are a researcher interested in using the WOICE Tool, please contact us at reproductivehealth@who.int
Related articles
The global prevalence of postpartum psychosis: a systematic review, BMC Psychiatry, July 2017.
Consequences of maternal morbidity on health-related functioning: a systematic scoping review, BMJ, June 2017.
Incidence of myocardial infarction in pregnancy: a systematic review and meta-analysis of population-based studies, EHJ - QCCO, July 2017.
Maternal morbidity measurement tool pilot: study protocol, BMC Reproductive Health, June 2016.
Constructing maternal morbidity – towards a standard tool to measure and monitor maternal health beyond mortality. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth, March 2016.
Sexual life and dysfunction after maternal morbidity: a systematic review, BMC Pregnancy Childbirth, November 2015.
Framing maternal morbidity: WHO scoping exercise, BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, November 2013
Measuring maternal health: focus on maternal morbidity, WHO Bulletin, 2013.