World Health Day, celebrated on 7 April 2025, will kick off a year-long campaign on maternal and newborn health. The campaign, titled ‘’Healthy beginnings, hopeful futures’’, will urge governments and the health community to ramp up efforts to end preventable maternal and newborn deaths, and to prioritise women’s longer-term health and well-being. The date of 7 April marks the anniversary of the founding of WHO in 1948.

This year’s campaign, which will run until 2026, will urge governments, donors and the health community to invest in proven, high-impact interventions, as part of efforts to improve overall quality of care. These include pregnancy related services to detect complications and lifesaving emergency obstetrics – noting that the vast majority of maternal and newborn deaths happen during or shortly after birth – as well as special care for small and preterm babies. Complications relating to prematurity are now the leading cause of death of children under-5 worldwide.