Measuring progress in pregnancy planning and preconception health.

Abstract

As efforts to support pregnancy planning and improve preconception health are increasing at scale, appropriate systems to monitor progress are required. Despite developments in a few countries, no surveillance systems currently in operation are using a comprehensive set of indicators for monitoring preconception health. This Review describes relevant indicators, reflecting both system-level and individual-level factors, that can be drawn from routine data sources to form the basis for developing new surveillance systems. We present a new framework for national and international surveillance that incorporates, for the first time, community perspectives on the factors that matter most before pregnancy and parenthood. Finally, we describe an international collaboration working towards a core set of indicators that can be compared across low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries, and discuss future directions to enhance and expand international monitoring of pregnancy planning and preconception health.