The postnatal period, defined here as the period beginning immediately after the birth of the baby and extending
up to six weeks (42 days), is a critical time for women, newborns, partners, parents, caregivers and families. Yet,
during this period, the burden of maternal and neonatal mortality and morbid...
WHO published interim guidelines on the prevention of sexual transmission of Zika virus in September 2016, based on a limited amount of evidence under an emergency process during a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). The body of evidence has grown considerably since then, and WHO ex...
This guideline examines the evidence and makes recommendations and remarks on the implementation of some of the details of breastfeeding counselling, such as frequency, timing, mode and provider of breastfeeding counselling, to improve breastfeeding practices. The objective of this guideline is to provid...
Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are an
important cause of severe morbidity, long-term
disability and death among both pregnant women
and their babies, and account for approximately
14% of all maternal deaths worldwide. Improving
care for women around the time of childbirth is
a necessary step towards...
The Department of Reproductive Health and Research of the World Health Organization
gratefully acknowledges the contributions of many individuals and organizations to
the updating of these recommendations. Work on this update was coordinated by
Olufemi Oladapo, Joshua Vogel and A. Metin Gülmezoglu of th...
Medical abortion care encompasses the management of various clinical conditions including spontaneous and induced abortion (both viable and non-viable pregnancies), incomplete abortion and intrauterine fetal demise, as well as post-abortion contraception. Medical management of abortion generally involves...
The World Health Organization (WHO) convened a technical consultation during 1–2 December 2016 to review new evidence on the risk of HIV acquisition with the use of hormonal contraception. The issue was recognized as a critical one, particularly for sub-Saharan Africa, where women have a high lifetime ...
The AA-HA! guidance aims to assist governments in deciding what they plan to do – and how they plan to do it – as they respond to the health needs of adolescents in their countries. It is intended as a reference document for national-level policy-makers and programme managers to assist them in planni...
This document is part of the process for improving the quality of care in family planning. Specifically, it is one of two evidence-based cornerstones (guidance documents) of the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) initiative to develop and implement family planning guidelines for national programmes....
The Consolidated guidelines on HIV testing services bring together existing guidance relevant to the provision of HIV testing services (HTS) and addresses issues and elements for effective delivery of HTS that are common in a variety of settings, contexts and diverse populations. In addition, this docume...
