Global health systems strengthening: FIGO's strategic view on reducing maternal and newborn mortality worldwide.

OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate that successful health systems strengthening (HSS) projects have addressed disparities and inequities in maternal and perinatal care in low-income countries. METHODS: A comprehensive literature review covered the period between 1980 and 2022, focusing on successful HSS interventions within health systems' seven core components that improved maternal and perinatal care. RESULTS: The findings highlight the importance of integrating quality interventions into robust health systems, as this has been shown to reduce maternal and newborn mortality. However, several challenges, including service delivery gaps, poor data use, and funding deficits, continue to hinder the delivery of quality care. To improve maternal and newborn health outcomes, a comprehensive HSS strategy is essential, which should include infrastructure enhancement, workforce skill development, access to essential medicines, and active community engagement. CONCLUSION: Effective health systems, leadership, and community engagement are crucial for a comprehensive HSS approach to catalyze progress toward universal health coverage and global improvements in maternal and newborn health.

Continuous female companionship during childbirth: a crucial resource in times of stress or calm.

Continuous support by a lay woman during labor and delivery facilitates birth, enhances the mother's memory of the experience, strengthens mother-infant bonding, increases breastfeeding success, and significantly reduces many forms of medical intervention, including cesarean delivery and the use of analgesia, anesthesia, vacuum extraction, and forceps. The contribution of doula care has become increasingly available in industrial countries and is beginning to be adopted in hospitals in underdeveloped countries. Research continues to demonstrate the far-reaching value of supportive companionship as a corollary to professional health care during birth. Mothers who are at risk because of medical or social factors and those delivering in situations of stress, including disasters, can benefit greatly from labor support.