All guidelines on maternal and perinatal health of the World Health Organization (WHO) are now available online on MAGICapp , a dynamic digital platform designed to streamline access to the most up-to-date, evidence-based recommendations. The use of this digital platform ensures that maternal and perinatal health guidelines remain relevant and adaptable to new research findings as soon as they become available. This means that users can access the evidence behind each recommendation. By providing a digital platform as a one-stop shop for all guidelines, health-care workers and policy makers stay informed, enabling them to quickly adapt practices, enhance decision-making, and deliver high-quality, evidence-based care.
Every two minutes, a woman dies from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth, most of which are preventable or treatable. To reduce maternal mortality and support respectful care during pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period, WHO has issued more than 300 maternal and perinatal health recommendations, informed by more than 250 systematic reviews.
These guidelines are essential for improving health outcomes; they translate the most accurate evidence into practical actions that help prevent complications, reduce mortality and improve the quality of care for women and newborns. For women and their families, this means safer pregnancies, fewer life-threatening complications, better recovery after birth and healthier starts in life for their babies.
MAGICapp, developed by the MAGIC Evidence Ecosystem Foundation, offers health-care professionals and policymakers an interactive and user-friendly way to access WHO recommendations in real time. The platform gained popularity and use within WHO following its application during the COVID-19 pandemic, where it allowed continuous update of recommendations as new evidence became available. The use of this digital platform ensures that maternal and perinatal health guidelines remain relevant and adaptable to new research findings as soon as they become available.
The shift towards living guidelines enables WHO to rapidly disseminate updates on maternal and perinatal health recommendations. The application improves guideline accessibility for clinicians, researchers and health policymakers by allowing users to quickly navigate key recommendations as well as the evidence that underpins them.
Digital innovations like this have the potential to transform how care is delivered, helping to ensure that more women and newborns benefit from timely, evidence-informed decisions that can save lives and improve long-term health outcomes.
"Having all of WHO's maternal and perinatal health guidelines available on an interactive platform was a significant undertaking and a big step forward," said Dr Olufemi Oladapo, Head of the Maternal and Perinatal Health Unit at WHO and the UN Special Programme in Human Reproduction (HRP). "Digital innovations like this have the potential to transform how care is delivered, helping to ensure that more women and newborns benefit from timely, evidence-informed decisions that can save lives and improve long-term health outcomes."
The use of digital tools in clinical decision-making enhances the consistency and quality of care delivered across different settings. By providing easily accessible recommendations, the platform supports frontline health-care workers to provide up-to-date evidence-based care that will lead to better health.
