A prevention-first approach transforms maternity care

Investing in prevention during pregnancy is one of the most effective ways governments can improve population health across two generations, while delivering better outcomes at lower cost.

A prevention‑first approach in maternity care shifts the system from reacting to crises to reducing them in the first place. Applied well, it lowers avoidable intervention, strengthens family wellbeing, improves outcomes, and reduces downstream health and social spending across a woman’s life course and her child’s.

A prevention lens reframes maternity care as a primary health, relational, and community‑anchored system, not an episodic hospital service. It focuses on the conditions that allow women to thrive before, during, and after pregnancy.

Core components of an evidenced based, prevention‑focused maternity system include:

  • Universal access to continuity of midwifery care as the default model.
  • Primary‑health‑based antenatal care with early engagement and relational continuity.
  • Group antenatal and early parenting programs to build community and reduce isolation.
  • Extended postnatal care, including home visiting and breastfeeding support.
  • Adequate paid parental leave to support maternal recovery and infant development.
  • Integrated mental health, social work, and family support embedded in maternity pathways.
  • Community‑led models for all women and most especially for the disadvantaged, First Nations, rural, and culturally diverse communities.
  • Transparent reporting and accountability for respectful care and outcomes.

A prevention‑first maternity system:

  • Reduces high‑cost acute care by preventing complications and unnecessary intervention.
  • Reduces long‑term social spending by supporting stable, healthy families.
  • Improves population health across two generations.
  • Delivers measurable returns through reduced surgery, NICU use, fewer readmissions, and lower mental health burden.
  • Aligns with national priorities on equity, primary care reform, and Closing the Gap.

System enablers required to achieve health systems reform include evidence-based workforce planning, funding models that reward prevention over volume, and data infrastructure tailored to track relational continuity, patient consent, and overall care experience.

Prevention in maternity care is not a nice to have it is the most cost‑effective, evidence‑based way to improve outcomes and reduce spending across the health and social system.

Reference:

  • Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) Mothers and Babies
  • Carbone, Dr Stephen, (2020), Evidence review: The primary prevention of mental health conditions, Prepared for VicHealth by Prevention United.
  • Kildea S, Hickey S, Barclay L, Kruske S, Nelson C, Sherwood J, Allen J, Gao Y, Blackman R, Roe YL. Implementing Birthing on Country services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families: RISE Framework. Women Birth. 2019 Oct;32(5):466-475. doi: 10.1016/j.wombi.2019.06.013. Epub 2019 Jul 4. PMID: 31279713.
  • Sandall et al. (2016 & 2024), Midwife continuity of care models versus other models of care for childbearing women Cochrane Review
  • Waqas A, Zafar SW, Meraj H, Tariq M, Naveed S, Fatima B, Chowdhary N, Dua T, Rahman A. Prevention of common mental disorders among women in the perinatal period: a critical mixed-methods review and meta-analysis. Glob Ment Health (Camb). 2022 Mar 23;9:157-172. doi: 10.1017/gmh.2022.17. PMID: 36618726; PMCID: PMC9806961.