Pregnancy, Birth and Baby (PBB) is a national service providing support and information for expecting mothers and parents, families, and carers of children from birth to five years of age. Healthdirect Australia delivers PBB through an agreement with the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. This review provides an evaluation of the service to determine:

• the extent to which the service meets the needs of women, parents/carers of babies to five-year-olds
• PBB’s relationship with and/or duplication of existing services at a national and jurisdictional level
• the extent to which PBB supports current and emerging Commonwealth health policy directions
• the cost-efficiency of PBB.

The review drew on: 

• a series of desktop reviews
• analysis of PBB administrative data
• two roundtables with key stakeholders – the first with consumer and priority population representative groups and the second with health professional organisations and Commonwealth officials
• analysis of PBB outputs to explore its effectiveness across different subgroups
• economic analysis to estimate the monetary value of the PBB helpline to government and consumers.

The report finds that as currently implemented, PBB does not support government policy directions. With a narrower scope, service refinements and enhanced funding, PBB has the potential to deliver policy objectives and bridge current service gaps.