Improve the quality of and access to maternal health services.

Imagine a woman in a remote village, perhaps in Africa or South Asia. She’s giving birth at home with a relative. Without access to drugs or transport, she could die. While maternal deaths have nearly halved in the past 25 years worldwide, thanks to the increased use of maternity services, progress has not been universal.

This online course explores the state of maternal health globally, based on The Lancet Maternal Health Series. You will review the latest evidence from experts, and learn what is needed to ensure good-quality, woman-centred maternal healthcare for all.

This course is designed for people who are studying, researching or working in maternal health or related disciplines such as public health, global health or medicine.

If you’re a healthcare professional, you may find it useful to upgrade this course to support your continuing professional development (CPD). By upgrading, you’ll be able to take this course at your own pace and revisit the material at any time in future. Once you complete the course, you’ll receive a Certificate of Achievement as evidence of your CPD. This includes details of what you learnt and the number of learning hours required.

You can read The Lancet Maternal Health Series open access papers and commentaries here. In addition, the series website contains further materials including videos, case studies and infographics.

Please note that there are PDF transcripts available in English, Arabic, Chinese, French and Spanish of all articles and videos.