Geneva, 7 April 2025 — The World Health Organization marked World Health Day on 7 April 2025 by launching a year-long campaign titled Healthy Beginnings, Hopeful Futures, dedicated to maternal and newborn health. The campaign urges governments, health systems, and the global health community to intensify efforts to end preventable maternal and newborn deaths and to prioritize women's longer-term health and well-being.
The launch comes against a backdrop of sobering statistics. Based on currently published estimates, approximately 260,000 women lose their lives due to pregnancy or childbirth each year, while over 2 million babies die in their first month of life and around 2 million more are stillborn. That amounts to roughly one preventable death every seven seconds.
The Scale of the Challenge
The campaign's urgency is underscored by progress data that reveals the world is falling short of its commitments to maternal and child health under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
These figures represent not just statistical shortfalls but a crisis of equity. The vast majority of maternal and newborn deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, where access to quality health care during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postnatal period remains inadequate. The campaign emphasizes that most of these deaths are preventable with proven, cost-effective interventions.
Beyond Survival: A Holistic Approach
A distinctive feature of the Healthy Beginnings, Hopeful Futures campaign is its emphasis on going beyond survival to prioritize women's longer-term health and well-being. The campaign calls for health systems to evolve to manage the many health issues that impact maternal and newborn health, including:
- Direct obstetric complications — ensuring skilled care during childbirth and emergency obstetric services
- Mental health conditions — addressing postpartum depression and other maternal mental health needs
- Noncommunicable diseases — managing conditions such as hypertension and diabetes that affect pregnancy outcomes
- Family planning — ensuring access to contraception and reproductive health services
Listening to Women
A central theme of the campaign is the importance of listening to women and supporting families. WHO emphasizes that women and families everywhere need high-quality care that supports them physically and emotionally, before, during, and after birth.
"The health of mothers and babies is the foundation of healthy families and communities, helping ensure hopeful futures for us all," the WHO stated in its campaign materials. The organization is calling for a worldwide reinvigoration of efforts to ensure access to high-quality care, with health providers who listen to women's concerns and meet their needs.
Campaign Goals and Activities
The year-long campaign is structured around four key goals:
| Goal | Description |
|---|---|
| Awareness raising | Highlighting gaps in maternal and newborn survival and the need to prioritize women's longer-term well-being |
| Effective investment | Advocating for investments that improve the health of women and babies |
| Encouraging support | Mobilizing collective action to support parents and health professionals providing critical care |
| Providing information | Sharing useful health information relating to pregnancy, childbirth, and the postnatal period |
As part of the campaign, WHO and its partners are providing resources to support healthy pregnancies, births, and postnatal health. This includes educational initiatives through the WHO Academy, offering free courses on topics such as infection prevention and control in maternal and neonatal care, and respectful maternity and newborn care.
Personal Stories and Advocacy
To bring the statistics to life, the campaign features personal stories from women around the world. These include accounts from Indonesia, where the taboo of stillbirth is being confronted, and from Honduras, where the challenges of pregnancy and disability are highlighted. These narratives aim to humanize the data and drive home the urgency of action.
The campaign also encourages public participation through several channels:
- Sharing awareness using the hashtags #HopefulFutures and #HealthForAll
- Participating in global events to learn about ending maternal and newborn mortality
- Sharing personal experiences of pregnancy and birth to build community and advocacy
- Supporting WHO's work through the #OneWorldMovement
Partnerships and Coordination
The campaign is supported by multiple partnerships, including the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH), the Every Woman Every Newborn Everywhere (EWENE) initiative, and the Human Reproduction Special Programme (HRP). These partnerships reflect the multi-stakeholder approach needed to address maternal and newborn health at scale.
The Path to 2030
With only five years remaining until the 2030 deadline for the Sustainable Development Goals, the campaign serves as both a call to action and a reminder of how far the world has to go. SDG target 3.1 aims to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births, while target 3.2 aims to end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5.
The fact that 4 out of 5 countries are off track on maternal survival targets suggests that business-as-usual approaches are insufficient. The campaign calls for renewed political commitment, increased investment, and innovative approaches to close the gap — particularly in the countries and communities where the burden of maternal and newborn mortality is greatest.
For the global health community, Healthy Beginnings, Hopeful Futures represents an opportunity to refocus attention on one of the most fundamental indicators of health system performance: the ability to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every newborn can survive and thrive.
Sources
- WHO, "World Health Day 2025: Healthy beginnings, hopeful futures" —
- WHO News, "World Health Day 2025: Explore free courses to enhance maternal and newborn health," 10 March 2025 —
- PAHO, World Health Day 2025 —
FIRAT Editorial Board
Institutional Research Desk · Foresight Institute of Research and Translation
The collective editorial and research translation board of FIRAT, synthesising peer-reviewed evidence, policy briefs, and division milestones across our seven foundational research pillars.
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