WHO recommendations on antenatal care

The World Health Organisation has announced new recommendations for antenatal care, including increasing the number of recommended appointments that women have during pregnancy.

The WHO now recommends that women should receive a minimum of eight contacts with a healthcare professional during their pregnancy. They advise at least one appointment in the first 12 weeks, with subsequent contacts at 20, 26, 30, 34, 36, 38 and 40 weeks. There are a total of 49 recommendations also including advice on diet, activity, physical and emotional health and tests and ultrasounds.

The new recommendations aim to improve pregnancy outcomes and experiences, including childbirth and motherhood. In 2015, approximately 303,000 women died due to pregnancy-related causes, whilst 2.7 millions babies died in the first 28 days of life, and 2.6 million babies were stillborn. Only 64% of women worldwide received antenatal care four or more times during their pregnancy. Globally, improvements have been made in the past twenty years, but the WHO hope that improving the quality of health care can continue to reduce deaths and diseases, and improve experiences during and after pregnancy.

For more details see here