Our perspectives

Quality of Care: A Key to Improved Health Outcomes

Improving maternal and newborn outcomes requires more than expanding access to services—it demands a strong and sustained focus on the quality of care.

High-quality care requires equal emphasis on prevention and intervention, combining prevention, early detection, and timely treatment to reduce avoidable complications while ensuring effective lifesaving care is available when needed.

Quality must be understood as a holistic concept—one that considers long-term health and integrates conditions such as non-communicable diseases into routine maternal healthcare. It also requires a commitment to integrating and scaling proven approaches within national health systems, so that what works reaches every woman and every newborn.

Balancing prevention with intervention

Joint op-ed with Gnosis by Lessafre, published by AIME: “The Best Mother’s Day Gift: Investing in Midwives to Equally Prevent and Manage Birth Complications” (2026)
Commentary in the Lancet Global Health by Franka Cadée, Director Safe Delivery Programme: “Prevention First, Preparedness Always” (2025)
Blog post by Franka Cadée, Director Safe Delivery Programme: “Why Prevention Lies at the Basis of a Sustainable Quality Care During Birth” (2025)

Integrating Maternal Health and Non-Communicable Disease Care

Joint op-ed with World Diabetes Foundation, published by AlignMNH by Anna Frellsen, CEO & Sanne Frost Helt, Senior Director for Policy, Programme and Partnership at World Diabetes Foundation: “Closing the Gap: Integrating Maternal Health and Gestational Diabetes Care for Lifelong Health”(2025)
Joint policy brief with UNFPA, WHO, World Diabetes Foundation, HRP Research, Jhpiego, and NCD Alliance: “Integration Across the Life Course” (2025)
Blog post by Julie Strøyer Rasmussen, Head of Programme Development and Support, Dr. Bhaskar Sen, Programme Officer-GDM, and Disha Agarwalla, Monitoring and Evaluation Manager: “Empowering Healthcare Professionals to Detect Gestational Diabetes in India through the Safe Delivery+ Approach”(2025)
Joint impact story with World Diabetes Foundation: “Maternity Foundation and World Diabetes Foundation Deliver Strong Results in Advancing Gestational Diabetes Care in India” (2025)

Integrating and scaling proven solutions

Joint article by Anna Frellsen (Maternity Foundation), Steven Jensen (Institute for Human Rights), Diane Gashumba (Rwanda’s Ambassador to the Nordic countries), Hanna Ohm Cleaver (Dalberg Media) and Oscar Milsted Karstad (Alliance for Global Health) in PLOS Global Public Health: “From pilots to partnerships: Why African-Nordic collaboration can help reshape global health” (2026)

The Case for Investing in Maternal and Newborn Health

Investing in maternal and newborn health is both the right thing to do and the smart thing to do. For every dollar invested, the estimated social and economic return is $87

Joint op-ed by A. Chang, A. Frellsen, H. Awad, J. Nonvignon, s. Jensen, T. Alfvén, U. Müller, V. Christensen, published in Jyllands-Posten: “Danmark skal styrke sin indsats for global sundhed. Både for verdens og Danmarks egen skyld.” (2025)
Joint op-ed by A. Chang, A. Frellsen, H. Awad, J. Nonvignon, S. Jensen, T. Alfvén, U. Müller, V. Christensen, H. Cleaver, published in Jyllands-Posten: “Tak for at gøre global sundhed til en dansk prioritet igen” (2025)

Microlearning: The Smart Way to Upskill Midwives

Blog post by Anna Frellsen, CEO, & Franka Cadée, Director Safe Delivery Programme: “Microlearning via the Safe Delivery App: The Smart Way to Upskill Midwives” (2025)

Philanthropy: A Growing Driver of Development Impact

Philanthropy is undergoing a profound transformation — shifting from traditional charity to strategic, long‑term investment in systemic change. In a world marked by overlapping crises, strained public systems, and declining aid budgets, this new approach positions philanthropy as a critical partner in delivering sustainable solutions to global challenges, including accelerating progress in maternal health.

Blog post by Anna Frellsen, CEO, Maternity Foundation, Ingrid Brodin Colesanti, Advisor, Maternity Foundation, and Mandana Kooijmans, Senior Program Officer, Gates Foundation: “Nordic Philanthropy Reimagined: From Generosity to Strategic Impact” (2026)

Leveraging Technology to Reach Those in Greatest Need

Reaching those in greatest need is at the heart of improving maternal and newborn health. Around the world, climate change and other crises are making it increasingly difficult for women and newborns to access quality care—especially in the most vulnerable communities. Midwives often stay with their communities in times of crisis, and by supporting them, we can ensure life-saving care continues to reach those who need it most, even in the most challenging circumstances.

Here, technology can be a powerful lever to expand reach and support midwives. However, to be effective, solutions must be designed for the realities of the settings they serve. Tools like the Safe Delivery App demonstrate this approach: built for low-resource environments, it works offline once downloaded, ensuring that up-to-date, critical guidance remains accessible to midwives at all times.

Joint announcement by Maternity Foundation, the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), and Direct Relief:New Global Partnership Strengthens Midwives’ Capacity to Protect Mothers and Newborns from Climate-Related Risks
Blog post by Julie Strøyer Rasmussen, Head of Programme Development, & Sonali Das, Monitoring Evaluation and Learning Manager: “Transforming Maternal Health in the Middle East and North Africa: Expanding the Safe Delivery+ programme to Empower Midwives” (2025)

Using AI for Good

Blog post by Anna Frellsen, CEO, & Mohit Mathur, CTO: “From Hype to Impact – What Will It Take for AI to Truly Transform Global Health?” (2025)

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