Title: World Health Day 2025: Strengthening Maternal and Newborn Health Worldwide
Image source: World Health Day 2025 © European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA)
Improving maternal and newborn health remains a global priority for both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Union (EU). While maternal mortality rates are still unacceptably high in several parts of the world, the WHO European Region has seen notable progress—achieving a reduction of over 50% in maternal mortality between 2000 and 2020.
Skilled care before, during, and after childbirth plays a critical role in saving the lives of mothers and their babies. That’s why World Health Day, on 7 April 2025, is dedicated to accelerating improvements in maternal and newborn health across the globe. The WHO’s campaign for this year aims to raise awareness, disseminate essential health information, advocate for increased investments, and inspire coordinated global action.
In support of this mission, the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) oversees EU-funded initiatives through programmes such as EU4Health, Horizon Europe, and Horizon 2020. These initiatives are focused on enhancing mother and infant care, addressing maternal mental health, and exploring environmental impacts on maternal and child well-being.
Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe Projects
ALERT Project
The recently concluded ALERT project, funded under Horizon 2020, made significant strides in improving maternal and infant healthcare in 16 hospitals across Benin, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda. By implementing co-designed interventions, professionalizing midwifery, providing leadership mentoring, and improving quality of care at childbirth, the project succeeded in reducing perinatal mortality by 25%. A digital perinatal registry was developed to support data-driven impact measurement. ALERT demonstrates that targeted, cost-effective strategies can yield substantial health benefits in regions with limited resources.
BornToGetThere
Another Horizon 2020 initiative, BornToGetThere, has notably advanced the early detection and treatment of infants at high risk of developing Cerebral Palsy (CP). As the first project to implement an International Clinical Practice Guideline across countries such as Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Georgia, Sri Lanka, and remote parts of Australia, BornToGetThere trained more than 1,000 healthcare professionals and screened over 5,000 infants—identifying and referring over 500 high-risk babies to early intervention services. The project also developed educational resources and aims to expand training and methodology across more European countries and into other paediatric health areas.
HIGH Horizons
Ongoing under Horizon Europe, the HIGH Horizons project is investigating the health impacts of climate change-induced heat exposure on pregnant and postpartum women, infants, young children, and maternity care providers. As part of a WHO expert initiative, the project is developing population-level heat-health indicators and piloting an early warning mobile app tailored to individual needs. Additionally, it focuses on reducing the carbon footprint of healthcare facilities and improving their resilience to heat stress.
EU4Health Initiatives
Mind the Mum
This project focuses on perinatal mental health (PMH) and is developing tools and interventions to support mothers’ well-being. Currently conducting needs assessments in Cyprus and Slovenia, Mind the Mum is adopting best practices from Poland and Spain. It also establishes partnerships among healthcare professionals, policymakers, and parental advocates to co-create prevention strategies, promote PMH-focused policies and training, and raise public awareness to combat stigma.
IMAGINE-HMB
IMAGINE-HMB is working to standardize and implement evidence-based guidelines for donor human milk (DHM) in line with the 2024 EU Regulation on quality and safety standards for substances of human origin. Key activities include:
– Forming a DHM expert forum
– Drafting technical and compliance guidelines
– Creating an implementation plan for human milk banks
– Developing a long-term strategy for continued support
– Providing professional training and digital tools
Additional Resources
– WHO World Health Day 2025: Healthy Beginnings, Hopeful Futures
– Horizon Europe: EU’s 2021–2027 research and innovation framework
– Horizon Cluster 1: Health – advancing health and well-being for all
– EU4Health: Reinforcing the resilience of European healthcare systems beyond COVID-19
About the Programmes
Horizon Europe (2021–2027) is the EU’s flagship research and innovation programme. Within it, Cluster 1 ‘Health’ seeks to enhance health outcomes for people of all ages through science, gender-responsive solutions, and technological innovation.
Horizon 2020 (2014–2020) was the EU’s previous major R&I programme, laying the groundwork for many impactful health projects.
EU4Health is the EU’s largest health programme, created to bolster healthcare systems post-COVID-19. It supports national authorities, health organisations, and other stakeholders through funding, and is largely managed by HaDEA through grants and
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