This report presents the findings of a pilot study on women’s experiences of pregnancy discrimination in Victoria arising from a collaboration between the authors and JobWatch.

This paper analyses and synthesises new research linking a mother’s prenatal mental health to the child’s brain development, and shows how this ties into the problem of intergenerational disadvantage in New Zealand.

The recommendations in this paper are aimed at enabling health services to maximise their effectiveness in providing services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, babies and their families during pregnancy and childbirth.

The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) was commissioned to investigate the contribution of midwifery to improving health outcomes.

This report outlines the perspectives of 14 women who have had recent experiences of pregnancy and homelessness. The research received approval from the Human Research Ethics Committees of RMIT University, La Trobe University and Launch Housing, and was overseen by a reference group with specialist...

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has assessed a proposal to consider a mandatory pregnancy warning label on packaged alcoholic beverages. Evidence demonstrates pregnancy warning labels on packaged alcoholic beverages can raise awareness of the risks of drinking alcohol during pregnancy and prompt discussion of...

The National Core Maternity Indicators (NCMIs) present information on measures of clinical activity and outcomes to assist in improving the quality of maternity services in Australia by establishing baseline data for monitoring and evaluating practice change.

FSANZ undertook a literature review to inform the development of risk management options for a pregnancy warning label on packaged alcoholic beverages. The literature review covered the period from November 2008 to July 2019.

This research sought to better understand data collection processes for homeless pregnant women and how homeless services can better engage with this group.

Reproductive abuse is defined as a deliberate attempt to control or interfere with a woman’s reproductive choices. There is a dearth of research on reproductive abuse, particularly qualitative research. This study aims to address this gap by exploring how health practitioners in a large Australian...

Currently, little is known about what types of physical activity pregnant women undertake in Australia. This short report investigates the types and amount of physical activity undertaken by women during pregnancy, with comparisons made between pregnant and non-pregnant women of the same age, and against...

This report describes national data sources available for monitoring the effects of diabetes during pregnancy on mothers and babies. It identifies current data gaps, alternate data sources for monitoring outcomes associated with diabetes in pregnancy, and possible data linkages to improve national monitoring of pregnancies...

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has released the next instalment of data from the survey of Pregnancy and Employment Transitions. This little known survey is conducted every six years as a special topic in the November Labour Force Survey. The first survey was undertaken...

This aim of this report is to improve care experienced by pregnant women and their babies by developing standards for a digital maternity record to allow clinical information to be recorded, exchanged and accessed consistently across care settings.

Optimising early childhood development requires a holistic approach to policy, programs and services that builds understanding of this important period and advances integrated polices and evidence-informed practices.

Australia’s mothers and babies 2015—in brief presents key statistics and trends on pregnancy and childbirth of mothers, and the characteristics and outcomes of their babies.

These dynamic data displays provide an overview of mothers and babies, maternal demographics, the antenatal period, labour and birth, and baby outcomes.

This study aimed to provide a better understanding of the concerns being raised to the Department of Child Protection about unborn children, to examine patterns of risk factors, to identify subsequent child protection involvement for these children, and to study patterns in the data to...

Australia's 12 million females experience varying health outcomes across population characteristics like Indigenous status, remoteness, socioeconomic disadvantage and age.

This article describes the technical basis of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT), and compares the performance characteristics of NIPT with existing screening tests.

This working paper analyses 11 years of national hospitalisation data to derive the estimated rate of peripartum hysterectomy in Australia in recent years and examine the rates of diagnoses for particular conditions contributing to peripartum hysterectomy. This is part of the National Maternity Data Development...

Summary In recent times the options available to women for antenatal care and birth have expanded. This includes the provision of more midwifery-led care models. This diversification creates a need for common terminology in describing and comparing these models and the outcomes for women and...

This thesis uses a complexity thinking approach to investigate the implementation of development strategies to improve maternal health taking the province of East New Britain, in Papua New Guinea, as a case study. A key global strategy for improving maternal and neonatal health is that...

In Australia, violence against women is a serious public health and social problem with substantial numbers of women and children affected (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2013). Many instances of violence go unreported and it is therefore not possible to measure the true extent of...

Explores the perceived need and demand for a therapeutic community style model to support young women who become pregnant either while they are in out of home care, or upon their transition from care. Executive Summary Children and young people in out of home care...