Networks of care - Launch of WHO's Implementation Guidance

Networks of care are an innovative approach to strengthening primary care and maternal and newborn health services. The approach focuses on cultivating relationships among health system stakeholders and strengthening relational elements, such as multidisciplinary teamwork, leadership and communication.Networks of care exist in diverse contexts and geographies. Existing studies on Networks of care havedemonstrated their effectiveness in improving quality of care and clinical outcomes for mothers and newborns.

This is the first implementation guidance on Networks of care and includes a definition of Networks of care for maternal and newborn health, an overview of the evidence and examples of establishing Networks of care and the key aspects of Networks work care including; the structural and relational elements, Networks of care financing, considerations for establishing and strengthening a Network of care, maintaining and sustaining Networks of care and areas for future research on Networks of care.