Photo credit: UNICEF Ethiopia, via Flickr

In a new commentary published in STAT, Global Health Core Leader Dr. Gary Darmstadt shares insights from his work co-chairing a World Health Organization Guideline Development Group which has released new recommendations for care of preterm or low birth weight infants.

These guidelines present a dramatic shift in how maternal newborn care is provided.

Darmstadt writes, “In recent years, we’ve learned a great deal about measures that can, collectively, prevent nearly three-fourths of newborn deaths. Key among them is centering mothers and families in the care of their preterm infants.”

He goes on to add, “We envision a model of care where mothers, newborns, other parents, and families form an inseparable center around which the entire maternal-newborn service delivery is organized, with close collaboration between health care providers,” he writes.