Surviving Day One: Caring for mothers and newborns in humanitarian emergencies on the day of childbirth

Ensuring women and newborns are provided quality, respectful, timely and effective care, particularly in the hardest to reach places, requires collective action. This paper highlights priorities and recommendations by the Inter-Agency Working Group on Reproductive Health in Crises (IAWG) for care on the day of childbirth, and during the first week of life, to reduce both maternal and neonatal deaths. To achieve this, IAWG calls on countries, donors, implementing organizations and global policymakers to mobilize around three key actions:

1. Intensify preparedness and resilience building efforts focused on maternal and newborn health
2. Prioritize integrated maternal and newborn life-saving interventions in crisis settings, and
3. Amplify the role of communities in the delivery of maternal and newborn health interventions, recognizing they are both the immediate and long-term responders.