World Health Organization guidelines promote equity in women’s sexual and reproductive health care through ready access to appropriate, safe, competent, non-judgmental care while informing the development of maternal health policy frameworks, workforce training and practice, and health care delivery supporting the systematic application of evidence-based, decentralized, and relevant models of care.

Acceptable, readily available maternal health care results in more ante- and postnatal attendance, in turn reducing mother and infant mortality and pre-term births and improving healthy infant birth weight and life course outcomes. Access to free/low-fee, data-driven, evidence-based, and locally responsive maternal health care makes a positive difference for families, communities, and societies.

Globally, women continue to experience varied maternal and infant outcomes with underserved women being the most vulnerable to poor outcomes, whether in low-, middle- or high-income countries. Insufficient investment and unsuitable health system policy settings tend towards one-size-fits-all care delivery leading to minimal flexibility for health services to respond to women’s maternal care needs locally.

We are seeking articles that report solutions-based undertakings, or those in process, which address known inequities in maternal health care (e.g. inadequate/inappropriate/inaccessible care) and that aim to improve outcomes for underserved women in any location. Solutions may be: high-level (e.g. policy-led) or highly targeted (e.g. implemented model/s of care); adapted from other known successful innovations; or, uniquely designed for a specific population.

This Research Topic welcomes all types of studies, including original research (qualitative studies, cohort studies, case-control studies, time-series studies, cross-sectional studies), interventions or related protocols, clinical research and trials, meta-analyses and systematic reviews, short reports, and commentaries.

To gather further insights in advancing equity in maternal health care, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

● Evidence-based maternity care principles applied to maternity care policy frameworks.
● Epidemiological analyses (whole of population or specific maternity (sub)populations) which identify where inequities in maternal and infant health outcomes are most prevalent.
● New or redesigned maternal models of care or services, e.g., (localized, generalized, targeted) which address known inequities in the delivery of maternal health care.
● Maternal and infant outcome analyses of targeted/localized/redesigned maternity care services.
● Maternity workforce development and service improvements undertaken to meet the needs of underserved women in a health service/region/jurisdiction.
● Maternity care services redesigned to meet the needs of underserved women and the impact of the changes.
● Processes used to lead maternity care and service redesign (e.g. community consultations) and the process outcomes.
● Novel maternal care and support roles targeting and supporting underserved women’s and babies’ health, social, cultural, and developmental needs towards optimal outcomes.

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Frontiers in Public Health

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