AWHONN Announces New Nursing Resources for Reducing Maternal Morbidity & Mortality Coming This Year

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WASHINGTON, DC — The Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), with support from Huggies® Brand, is developing resources to help nurses reduce disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality outcomes. Two new resources currently in development are focused on supporting all birthing women and the community around them as they safely prepare for birth, postpartum recovery and begin breastfeeding and parenting.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, 60% of pregnancy-related maternal deaths are preventable, yet Black and Indigenous mothers are up to three times more likely to die in the first-year post-birth as compared to White mothers (CDC, 2017, Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System).  As the foremost authority promoting the health of women and newborns, AWHONN’s goal is to help strengthen the nursing profession through the delivery of superior advocacy, research, education, and other professional and clinical resources to reduce health disparities.

In January 2022, AWHONN will release “Respectful Maternity Care Framework and Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline,” the first-of-its-kind resource on respectful nursing care from AWHONN. The guideline, now in development by a team of expert nursing scientists and clinicians dedicated to AWHONN’s mission of improving the health of women and their newborns through excellence in professional nursing care. This guideline includes recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO) and other global maternal-child health organizations.

“Addressing the issues around maternal mortality and morbidity is critical to the health and well-being of pregnant people and their families. The stakes couldn’t be higher for us to help get this right. Even one lost life, one suffering individual, or one negatively impacted family or community is too many,” said AWHONN CEO Jonathan Webb, MPH, MBA. “We appreciate the ongoing partnership and support of Huggies and look forward to making a difference together.”

“Huggies has been a proud partner of AWHONN because of the great work they do to support moms and babies, as well as our incredible nurses and hospital staff,” said Rebecca Dunphey, Kimberly-Clark North America Personal Care President. “We are proud to partner with them to bring these resources and introduce new industry guidelines that will help save lives and help ensure all moms and babies thrive.”

In early 2022, AWHONN will launch an organizational toolkit to support the evidence-based guideline in serving diverse populations in maternity settings, which will feature the guideline expert nursing team sharing highlights from the various sections of the guideline and tips for implementing the organizational toolkit.

About AWHONN

The Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit membership organization. Our mission is to empower and support nurses caring for women, newborns, and their families through research, education, and advocacy.

About Huggies^® Brand
For more than 40 years, Huggies has been helping parents provide love, care and reassurance to their babies. From developing innovative, everyday products for babies to partnering with NICU nurses to develop a special diapers and wipes line for the most fragile babies, Huggies is dedicated to helping ensure all babies get the care they need to thrive. Huggies is also proud to be the founding sponsor of the National Diaper Bank Network, a nationwide nonprofit dedicated to eliminating diaper need in America since 2011. Huggies is also the founding sponsor of virtual NICU support groups through the national nonprofit Hand to Hold, which helps families before, during and after NICU stays and infant loss by providing powerful resources for the whole family. For more information on product offerings or our community efforts, please visit Huggies.com.

Centers for Disease Control website, Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System, https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternal-mortality/pregnancy-mortality-surveillance-system.htm#trends