This policy brief provides maternal and newborn health stakeholders and decision-makers with an overview of the WHO Labour Care Guide (LCG) and its guiding principles, key advantages of making the shift from the WHO partograph to the WHO LCG, and what is required to ensure an enabling environment that will facilitate a sustainable introduction of the WHO LCG.
Highlights
- The WHO LCG provides a tool to effectively implement the WHO 2018 evidence-based recommendations for intrapartum care for a positive experience.
- The chief advantages of the WHO LCG over to the WHO modified partograph include improved respectful care, more accurate assessments of fetal well-being and labor progress, and other improvements in maternal and newborn health outcomes.
- Successful, sustained implementation of the WHO LCG requires adequate human resources with the necessary expertise and skills; infrastructure updates to support recommended practices; adequate equipment, supplies, and medicines; and a health information management system designed to document and monitor recommended practices.
How to Use
This policy brief provides maternal and newborn health stakeholders and decision-makers the background needed to advocate for the adoption of the WHO LCG. By clearly highlighting the WHO LCG’s advantages over use of the WHO modified partograph and breaking down the key characteristics of an enabling environment, stakeholders will be able to advocate for and effectively implement the new WHO intrapartum care recommendations to improve the experiences of care and health outcomes.