Reducing Preventable Maternal and Infant Mortality
Advancing Maternal, Infant, and Child Health Worldwide
Supporting health systems worldwide with the expertise, frameworks, and improvement capability needed to reduce preventable harm, close equity gaps, and strengthen outcomes for mothers, infants, and children.
IHI has worked in 62 countries across six continents, strengthening systems and improving outcomes — especially where inequities are most pronounced.
IHI has worked in 62 countries across six continents, strengthening systems and improving outcomes — especially where inequities are most pronounced. IHI’s maternal and infant health consulting work supports organizations to:
Every Week Counts: Reducing Early Births Across Australia
See how IHI and its partners supported 63 maternity hospitals to achieve a 9.6 percent reduction in early-term births through nationwide collaboration and evidence-based improvement.
Cristina San Román Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo – Ecuador
Health Specialist Department of Health, Nutrition and Population
Health Specialist Department of Health, Nutrition and Population
"The participation of IHI's Vice President significantly elevated the project's profile. Her senior-level presence proved invaluable, particularly in addressing nuanced interpersonal dynamics and work style considerations that might otherwise have been overlooked."
Pathways to Maternal & Infant Health Improvement
Applying culturally responsive improvement science and locally contextualized strategies to strengthen maternal and infant health outcomes across diverse settings and communities.
Strategies That Scale
Across geographies and care settings, IHI establishes structures and processes that help expert strategies spread throughout organizations and communities.
Community-Centered Solutions
We provide culturally safe care frameworks grounded in lived experience, helping organizations design solutions that reflect local realities and community needs.
Test, Learn, and Improve
Our teams use PDSA cycles, root cause analysis, and outcome measurement to test, refine, and spread effective practices across systems and populations.
Sustainable Capability and Results
Organizations strengthen local improvement capability, build sustainable systems, and achieve measurable progress in maternal and infant health outcomes.
What This Looks Like in Practice
How We Work With Your Organization
IHI brings a proven consulting approach to health systems, government agencies, philanthropic funders, and community-based organizations—providing support at every stage, from strategy and implementation to sustained spread.
Assess and Prioritize
IHI works with your leadership to identify the highest-leverage opportunities to reduce maternal and infant mortality and close equity gaps within your specific system context.
Build Internal Capability
IHI equips your clinical teams and improvement staff with QI tools and methods, including PDSA cycles, root cause analysis, and outcome measurement, so improvement capacity stays within your organization.
Co-design with Communities
IHI facilitates co-design with the populations you serve, ensuring that solutions are grounded in local knowledge and cultural context, and that communities are genuine contributors, not passive recipients.
Implement and Spread What Works
IHI supports you to implement evidence-based practices reliably, test adaptations through rapid-cycle learning, and scale successful interventions across sites and jurisdictions.
Measure and Sustain
IHI helps your teams embed ongoing measurement and accountability into standard operations, so results are sustained long after active consulting engagement ends.
Reducing Postpartum Maternal Morbidity
Learn how health systems can make postpartum care safer, more connected, and more equitable. The postpartum period is a critical time to prevent maternal harm and improve equitable care.
The article explores three opportunities to strengthen postpartum care:
Reduce Preventable Harm
Use more reliable care systems to reduce morbidity and mortality.
Strengthen Postpartum Support
Improve discharge, follow-up, education, and connections to services.
Design for Equity
Center the experiences and needs of Black women and other birthing people.
Who We Work With
IHI’s maternal and infant health partnerships span health systems, government agencies, philanthropic organizations, and community-based partners across the globe.
IHI's maternal and infant health consulting partnerships span health systems, government agencies, philanthropic organizations, and community-based partners across the globe.
Ethiopia Ministry of Health
More than a decade of partnership focused on reducing neonatal mortality through whole-system quality improvement, capability building, and co-designed interventions at both local and system levels.
Safer Care Victoria
A strategic partner in the Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance, collaborating on the Every Week Counts national program to reduce preterm birth rates across Australia.
MASS Design Group
Partnered with IHI on the Delivering More project in Bangladesh and Ethiopia, co-designing health facilities that enable safe and respectful maternal and newborn care in underserved communities.
Merck for Mothers
Funder of multiple large-scale maternal health improvement initiatives, including the Better Maternal Outcomes Rapid Improvement Network, System Redesign with Black Women Initiative, and IHI’s Learning Community focused on eliminating inequities and reducing postpartum morbidity and mortality.
St. Jude Global
Since 2019, IHI has partnered with St. Jude Global to reduce treatment-related morbidity and mortality among children with cancer globally.
California Department of Health Care Services
Implemented with the Center for Care Innovations and the Child Health Equity Collaborative to improve well-child visit rates among infants and adolescents across California.
Women’s Healthcare Australasia
A key partner in the National Preterm Birth Prevention Collaborative, working alongside IHI to operationalize evidence-based preterm birth prevention across Australian jurisdictions.
National Network of Perinatal Quality Collaboratives
Since 2022, IHI has provided training and technical assistance as part of this CDC-funded network, supporting state-based perinatal quality collaboratives to accelerate improvements in maternal and infant health outcomes.
Project Aisha: Safer Childbirth, Stronger Futures
In Nigeria, Project Aisha helped reduce maternal deaths by 64% by strengthening health systems, supporting frontline care teams, and improving access to safer childbirth. Through community partnership, workforce training, and quality improvement, the initiative helped more mothers and babies return home safely.
Explore the Story Behind Safer Childbirth
Maternal Health Resources
Black Maternal Health: Reducing Inequities Through Community Collaboration
Explore evidence-based publications and reports focused on reducing maternal and infant mortality, advancing birth equity, and improving perinatal outcomes.
Better Maternal Outcomes QI Workbooks
Use practical improvement tools and frameworks to design, implement, and scale maternal health strategies across your organization and community.
Data Gives Patients a Voice: Lessons Learned About Maternal Health Equity
See how USA Health used data stratified by race and ethnicity, quality improvement methods, and targeted interventions to uncover disparities and advance equitable maternal care.
Are You Ready to Improve Maternal and Infant Health Outcomes?
Obtain consulting services that enable sustainable improvement. IHI works with states, health systems, and clinical teams worldwide, to implement known best practices, rapidly scale successful innovations, and deliver equitable maternal and infant care for every population they serve.
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