WHO Recommendations: Intrapartum Care for a Positive Childbirth Experience

This guideline is a consolidated set of new and existing recommendations on essential labour and childbirth practices that should be provided to all pregnant women and their babies during labour and childbirth irrespective of socioeconomic setting. It promotes the delivery of a package of labour and childbirth interventions that is critical to ensuring that giving birth is not only safe but also a positive experience for women and their families.

It highlights how woman-centred care can optimize the quality of labour and childbirth care through a holistic, human rights-based approach. By outlining a new model of intrapartum care that is adaptable to individual country contexts, the guideline enables substantial cost-savings through reduction in unnecessary interventions during labour and childbirth.